


C'est qu'ils confondent les chiens et les loups

by ItsYlva



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Book 3: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Diagon Alley, Fix-It, General warning for everything that comes with Dumbledore's manipulative ways, I've been meaning to add that tag but kept forgetting, J.K.Rowling who?, M/M, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Remus Lupin Needs a Hug, Remus Lupin is a badass, Remus Lupin is a tea snob, Remus Lupin is a troublemaker, Sirius Black Needs a Hug, Sirius Black as Padfoot, We Die Like Men, some tags not added to avoid spoilers, this is why canines are used to sniff out the truth, unbetad
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:20:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 58,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28217595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ItsYlva/pseuds/ItsYlva
Summary: In the summer of 1993, Sirius Black breaks out of Azkaban. The Wizarding World is sure he wants to go after Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, but one person knows he's innocent, and he will do whatever it takes to finally prove it, even adopt a Grim lookalike.AKA the WolfStar fix-it of PoA from Remus' POV no-one asked for.
Relationships: Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 70
Kudos: 144





	1. Chapter One of Remus Lupin's not good, very bad day

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't written a word in months but after re-reading PoA (or reading it for the first time in English) last week gave me Ideas. I'm WolfStar trash, and I just had to write something where Remus never doubts Sirius and would do anything to help him, the little shit. I also don't like how a lot of people portray Remus, they all seem to fall for his goodie-two-shoes facade like the professors did when he was a schoolboy. In my opinion, Remus is just as much of a troublemaker as James and Sirius, he's just always been better at getting away with things. He was the mastermind behind some of their biggest pranks, you cannot change my mind.
> 
> Okay, obligatory disclaimer that English is not my mothertongue, apologies in advance for all the strange sentences and word orders, and for mixing up UK and US English. Let me know if you find anyhting disastrous. Also, I may have overlooked some typos and grammatical mistakes, let me know if you see any so that I can fix them.
> 
> Tags will be updated as I publish new chapters. Also, be warned that the first few chapters will be mostly just Remus and his internal monologue.
> 
> Title from Les rois du monde, one of the songs of the Roméo et Juliette musical. It basically translates to 'Because they confuse the dogs and the wolves'. Yes, I'm shit at choosing titles and always end up turning to music for help.

To say that Remus Lupin was surprised when he saw Sirius Black staring at him from the front page of his Daily Prophet would be a huge understatement.

He had only been up for about ten minutes, still wearing his pyjamas and in the process of preparing his morning tea, when the owl arrived with his copy of the Daily Prophet. He paid it and glanced at the newspaper as he picked it up to bring it over to the small table where he usually ate his breakfast while reading the news. Except his hand stopped mid-air as he saw Sirius Black’s mugshot taking up the whole front page, looking at the photographer with sunken eyes.

The thing is, Remus Lupin was familiar with that face. Not the mugshot, or the criminal, but the face of the boy Sirius Black used to be. They had been really close at school and the three years following their graduation, but then Sirius went and blew up a street in Muggle London in broad daylight after selling his best friend to the Dark Lord, killing thirteen people, and got himself a one-way ticket to the living hell the Wizarding World called Azkaban.

Or at least that was the official version of the story that everyone had heard of.

Now, Remus knew Sirius better than most, probably even better than James Potter, Sirius’ best friend and brother, had known him before his untimely death, and he was sure Sirius had never committed the crimes he’d been locked up for. He had even tried to convince the Aurors working on the case, though it hadn’t gone too well. Crouch, the head of the team, had been dead set on convicting Sirius, simply for his last name being Black, and had managed to send him to Azkaban without trial, without a proper investigation, and without an opportunity for appeal.

Afterward, Remus had tried to have the case reopened, but with no success. The Blacks had always been known sympathizers of Voldemort, with Sirius’ own brother being a known Death Eater, and even if they hadn’t been, all the evidence had already been destroyed. The witnesses had all been Muggles, and, therefore, obliviated, and Sirius’ wand had been snapped in two, making a Priori Incantatem impossible. The only thing Remus had gotten for his trouble was Sirius’ titanium ring, having been declared non-magical, and, as such, not dangerous.

Now, seeing Sirius’ mugshot, Remus’ hand not holding the newspaper went to the ring he’d been wearing on a thin necklace ever since, only taking it off during full moons, because he was afraid he, or rather the wolf, would lose it. He clutched it tightly, and just stared for a moment at the face of his old friend. It was so pale Remus doubted Sirius had seen much of the Sun since the beginning of his stay at Azkaban almost twelve years ago, and it looked as if it was a wax statue, no sign of life, really, except for his eyes that looked haunted. Remus could imagine why they looked haunted, he himself had met the guards of Azkaban a few times, and every occasion left him with such a bone-deep cold and conviction that he’d never feel warmth and happiness ever again that he couldn’t help wondering how exactly Sirius survived being exposed to them for so long.

The timer that Remus had set for the tea went off with a loud shrill, and Remus jumped a little at the sudden noise. He quickly shut it down, putting the newspaper down on the table, and poured his tea. He put the steaming cup of English Breakfast on the table, next to the Daily Prophet, added some milk to it (he could still picture to this day, how disgusted Sirius had been the first time he’d seen Remus do it), then made a couple of toasts with a flicker of his wand and levitated them onto his plate. He sighed loudly, then sat down, thinking about Sirius, and what him escaping from Azkaban, which was a stunt nobody had ever pulled before, meant.

He got so lost in his thoughts and the Daily Prophet’s short article about Sirius, that the first time it occurred to him to check his watch was when he finished his tea, and he saw that he should have had left for work five minutes ago. He muttered a curse under his breath, run into his bedroom to put on some clothes and decided that a quick cleaning spell would have to do instead of a proper morning wash-up, magicked his hair into a presentable state (he needed to cut it, it was getting really long by his standards, but he failed to muster up the energy every time he contemplated it during the last few weeks), and was out the door in under five minutes.

The traffic wasn’t helping, it added some more to him being late, and he ended up arriving 20 minutes later at work than he was supposed to. He managed to get to his desk without anyone noticing, but he knew the system would register that he hadn’t done anything in the first twenty-something minutes of his shift. He was already on thin ice, his managers disliking how much sick time he took because of the full moon, he couldn’t afford adding to it.

Though adding to it, he did. He was distracted. He misplaced several files, he zoned out during his phone calls, he lost track of time again, and his colleagues noticed. Most of them looked at him with pity in their eyes, feeling sorry for the man with the scars and too many lines on his face for his age, and wearing patched up clothes, but they didn’t like that they had to do extra, deal with his pile of files on the days he couldn’t get out of bed, and now he was making even more extra work.

He more or less got himself together during his lunch break, but then, as he was washing the plate and fork he had used in the kitchenette, he glanced at the small television screen in the corner and saw Sirius’ face on the news. He froze for a moment, unable to believe that Fudge had already contacted the Muggle Prime Minister about the fugitive, and all the composedness he managed to build up in the past fifteen minutes came crashing down. It wasn’t just the Wizarding World that was looking for Sirius, it was the whole country now.

At the end of the day, as he was preparing to leave, he couldn’t remember much of his afternoon. He was almost sure someone had shouted at him on the phone for about five minutes, telling him how useless he was, but he had zoned out pretty much as soon as the shouting started. He could recall one of his co-workers, a college girl, coming around and asking him whether he was okay, but not his answer. He switched everything off, rubbed his eyes, and shrugged on his coat, a once-thick, now full of holes and patches brown thing he’d had for about a decade and a half. He run his fingers across the hem of one of the sleeves, remembering the last Christmas he had spent at Hogwarts, and how proud of this present Sirius and James had been.

‘Lupin,’ he heard one of the managers calling him just then. ‘A word, if I may.’ The man nodded at his office, and Remus could feel the cold settle in his stomach. He was being laid off; he knew it right away. If happened every few months, and he was already too familiar with the different methods managers used.

He let his head hang as he walked into the office without a word. He didn’t really listen to the manager making excuses of how he took too much time off, how much extra work he piled on the others, and so on, and watched with a strange disinterest as the manager withdrew some money from a drawer to give to him, as his last paycheck. He numbly took the bills and crumpled them into his coat pocket. Even though this very scene had happened so many times since the war, it still hurt that he wasn’t good enough, that he couldn’t hold down a job for more than a few months. And he hated the empty _sorry_ s from the bottom of his heart.

He got home in a similar state, probably having walked into a dozen or so people without noticing it, but he just didn’t care, not today. Today he was feeling sorry for himself and his friends and their youth.

He didn’t bother with a proper dinner, just ate something microwaved and washed it down with a glass of tap water, then stood under the shower for what felt like a small eternity, scrubbing at his skin so hard that he grazed his skin in several places. He let routine take over, washing his hair, and then brushing his teeth, drying himself with a rough towel, and putting on his pyjamas. Ever since his school days, he slept in the same clothes, casting a cleaning spell on them every few days: a warm pair of pyjama pants with small snitches on them that he got from James as a birthday present and a Gryffindor hoodie that used to belong to Sirius but was too big for him and ended up in Remus’ trunk in no time. He always suspected Sirius deliberately got it a couple sizes too big so he would have an excuse for giving it to him.

Remus took a deep breath, trying to find Sirius’ scent on the hoodie, but it was a futile attempt. He’d been wearing it for so long that all it smelled of was him. He felt another wave of regret and self-hatred hit him at that thought. He clutched the titanium ring in both hands and willed himself to sleep, knowing very well that, even if sleep came, it would be fitful and full of nightmares.


	2. Chapter Two of Remus Lupin out-manipulating the manipulation master

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! This one is pretty dialogue heavy, but then for the next few chapters we'll be back to minimal dialogue.

A few days and a full moon later, Remus was just getting ready for another day of job hunting, when a loud knock drew his attention away from the ads in the Muggle newspapers. With knitted brows, he walked to the door and opened it a crack.

Then he threw the door open, with a shocked expression on his face. Apparently, this summer was a summer of surprises.

‘Professor, what can I do for you?’ he asked as he let his visitor enter the small house.

‘You can call me Albus, I haven’t been your professor for what, fifteen years?’ the headmaster said with a twinkle in his blue eyes.

‘Right, Albus,’ Remus corrected uneasily. He had no idea what this all was about, but he was sure Dumbledore wouldn’t visit him merely for old times’ sake. ‘Can I get you anything? Tea, perhaps? I’m afraid I don’t have any biscuit, run out just before the full.’

‘A cup of tea would be delightful,’ the headmaster agreed, following Remus into the kitchen. He sat down at the table and let Remus prepare the tea for them in silence as he turned his attention to the Muggle newspapers Remus had collected.

‘You’re looking for a job, I presume,’ Dumbledore noted after Remus put a cup in front of him and settled into the other chair, holding his cup in his hands, partly to keep them warm, and partly to keep them occupied.

‘Yes, I am,’ he confessed, not elaborating. The headmaster knew the reasons perfectly well.

‘That is lucky, then.’ Dumbledore produced a bag of lemon sherbets from somewhere within his robes, offered them to Remus, who declined, then popped one into his mouth. ‘It is lucky, because I have an offer for you,’ he went on. ‘As you probably know, once again, we have a vacancy.’

Remus lifted an eyebrow. It was common knowledge that nobody managed to hold the DADA position for longer than a school year since the sixties, or so. He himself had seven different professors during his time at Hogwarts.

‘I was wondering, if you would be so kind and join the Hogwarts staff as the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor.’

Remus closed his eyes for a few seconds. Hogwarts had always been a home to him, he loved the school so much, and he would have loved to teach, it was his dream since fourth year. Things, however, were never this simple with Dumbledore, and he couldn’t forget about his furry little problem either. He opened his eyes and prepared to protest, but Dumbledore was faster.

‘I’ve considered your condition, and it shouldn’t be a problem. Severus offered to make you the Wolfsbane potion every month, and the staff doesn’t mind working with you.’ Severus Snape, offering to make him potions? That must have been a wild stretch.

‘But what would the parents say?’

‘They hardly need to know. The school governors said that they didn’t care who I hired as long as I hired someone to fill in the post.’ Meaning Dumbledore hadn’t told them he wanted a werewolf teaching DADA. Remus could already tell it would blow up spectacularly at one point, if he took the offer, that is.

‘As I know, the potion doesn’t stop the change, or its side-effects, it would just help keep my mind. That means I would still need to take a day or two off after the full,’ he pointed out, because he needed to find an excuse. As much as he wanted to accept, he could think of too many ways things could go awry.

‘Which would be fully alright,’ Dumbledore smiled. ‘The other professors already agreed to covering for those lessons.’

‘Right.’ Remus now saw that Dumbledore had thought of everything, he was prepared, and he knew him too well. ‘If I say yes, what would that entail?’ he asked, emphasizing the if.

‘Accommodation within the castle, meals, just like when you were a student, access to the Wolfsbane potion, and a shelter. Oh, and a rather nice paycheck every month, if I say so myself.’ Dumbledore looked at him expectantly, but Remus knew it wasn’t everything, and pretended to think it over, waiting for the headmaster to continue. ‘Of course, I was hoping you could help with Mr. Black.’

There it was, Dumbledore’s agenda. Remus suspected it would be something like this, but it still caught him a little off guard.

‘Why would you think I can help?’

‘You two were close friends, I’m sure you have an idea or two about his escape.’

‘Maybe. But I haven’t seen him for almost twelve years, and I’m not sure I know him anymore.’ As much as it hurt to say it, there were secrets Remus wasn’t ready to give up.

‘I understand. However, Minister Fudge believes that Mr. Black is after Harry Potter and will try to break into Hogwarts. You wouldn’t want him to get hurt, would you?’

Remus hated how confident Dumbledore looked and how easily he slipped back into his manipulative ways, just like he did during the war. Still, if they thought Sirius would be heading for Hogwarts, maybe he should be there too.

‘Why does Fudge think that?’ he asked, stalling.

‘Apparently, Mr. Black has been talking in his sleep. The Minister said the guards heard him repeating “He’s at Hogwarts” in the nights before he broke out. Also, one might think twelve years in Azkaban would consume a man’s right mind, but Mr. Black seemed perfectly normal to the Minister, when he visited a few weeks ago.’ At Remus’ questioning look, he added, ‘He chatted with Minister Fudge, and even asked to have his Daily Prophet, to solve the crossword. I personally find that one needs a sharp mind for those.’

Remus considered this new piece of information. Sirius’ mumbling could be interpreted to be about Harry, but then again, Sirius was Harry’s godfather, surely he knew Harry’d been attending Hogwarts for two years already. For a moment he thought maybe Sirius had lost track of time, but he ruled it out almost immediately. With the semi-regular visits of Ministry officials, Sirius must know the current year and month at least.

The newspaper, on the other hand, was a mystery. Sirius had never been big on crosswords. Sure, he would solve them whenever someone left a Daily Prophet lying around, but he only ever did them instead of his homework. Maybe there’d been something in the issue Fudge had had with him that had set Sirius off? He’d have to check all the issues from the previous month to make any sense of what might have happened.

Though by now it was obvious to Remus that he would accept the offer. Sirius was heading to Hogwarts, he would just have to figure out, why.

‘I see. Is the Minister doing anything to protect the school?’ At this question, Remus could see a slight grimace pass on Dumbledore’s face.

‘The school will be guarded by Dementors, and there will be some extra rules in place, to keep the students safe.’

‘Dementors? Why? Does Fudge believe that they would be able to keep Sirius out of Hogwarts, after they failed to keep him in Azkaban? He’s already slipped past them; I doubt he couldn’t do it a second time.’ He frowned. Was Fudge really this much of an idiot? Yes, Remus was sure Sirius was innocent, but if it had been anyone else, some known Death Eater, that managed to escape from Azkaban, sending the very creatures he had already outwitted once would be just plain stupid.

‘I have raised these concerns to the Minister, but he seems adamant,’ Dumbledore nodded, looking somewhat furious. ‘And that is part of why I’d like you to join the staff. I know you can cast a strong Patronus, and would be able to fend them off, shall anything happen.’

Remus loudly exhaled at that. He had had a strong Patronus when he was younger. Nowadays, he wasn’t so sure. Not to mention he would have to conceal it, force it to stay non-corporeal, if he didn’t want to give away secrets. He unconsciously reached for the titanium ring and touched it through his sweater, its familiar weight anchoring him. He could do it. He could do it for the truth and for his friends.

‘Fine,’ Remus said, drawing a content smile from Dumbledore. ‘I’ll take the position.’


	3. Chapter Three of Remus Lupin working things out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, sorry, I meant to put this up earlier, but it's short and a bit darker than the previous two chapters and wanted Chapter 4 ready before publishing this. Also, I ended up writing a 8.5k Marauders Era WolfStar one-shot during Xmas instead of working on this.  
> As said, this chapter is a bit on the shorter side, but the next one (and probably the ones after that) will be much longer.  
> Happy New Year to all!

Remus spent the next three weeks preparing for his classes and trying to figure out what had made Sirius escape now, and as much as he wanted to say that the latter was just an extracurricular activity, it took up most of his time. The DADA books he was familiar with, and he would have to see how much his students already knew to be able to come up with his lesson plans anyway.

Sirius, on the other hand, he couldn’t figure out this easily. He was sure Sirius’ “He’s at Hogwarts” hadn’t referred to Harry but somebody that posed a threat to Harry. He just couldn’t think of anyone to draw such a reaction from Sirius. Most of Voldemort’s inner circle was locked up in Azkaban, and those who weren’t wouldn’t dare attack Harry at Hogwarts. Or at least as long as Dumbledore was there. There was one person that came to his mind, though, but he didn’t see how Sirius would know about his whereabouts.

He understood everything as he went through the Daily Prophets leading up to Sirius’ escape.

A few days prior to it, there’d been an article about the Weasley family having won some money and using it to visit their eldest son in Egypt. Now, this in itself wasn’t interesting, the picture attached to the article, though, was. Remus merely glanced over it first, but then did a doubletake and looked at it closely, scrutinizingly. The picture wasn’t a big one and it was somewhat unclear, but Remus could make out the faces and that little detail that he had unconsciously noticed at the first glance.

There was a rat sitting on the shoulder of one of the boys, a rat Remus immediately recognized, even if one of his front paws was missing a finger. Especially because one of his front paws was missing a finger.

Remus now felt a surge of gratitude towards Dumbledore for letting him into Hogwarts once again. He could finally prove what he had been telling the Ministry for the last twelve years if he played his cards right. Of course, his lessons would take up a lot of his time, but when had that ever stopped him from snooping around? He’d just need to get the map from Filch and use it to find Sirius and the rat. Having James’ invisibility cloak would be a huge advantage but last he heard, Dumbledore had borrowed it, and he wasn’t stupid enough to try and steal it from the headmaster, though he may not even have it anymore.

He rubbed his face with a scarred hand. He flicked his wand and poured himself some steaming tea. He would have to be really cautious. As a professor, he would get away with a lot more than when he’d been a student (though as a Prefect, he had gotten away with a lot), but he had a feeling that Snape was still holding his old grudges, maybe not directly against him, but against Sirius, and, well, yes, against him by association. He’d just have to get the map and make sure to keep an eye out for the potions master.

He would also have to come up with a way to explain everything to Harry. He doubted he had been told much about Sirius, but he was the son of Lily and James Potter. Surely he had inherited Lily’s quick wit and James’ knack for trouble, and he’d figure out too much for his own good and get a completely wrong view on things.

But that would have to be future Remus’ problem to solve, right now he needed to pack. With the full moon being early morning on the 1st of September, he’d be extremely exhausted the following day. He decided to take the Hogwarts Express to sleep off some of his tiredness during the journey and had already booked a bed on the Knight Bus to take him to King’s Cross early enough to avoid the crowd.

Packing wasn’t a particularly long activity for him, after all, he didn’t own too much. He got out his trunk that he had used as a schoolboy and magicked the words _Professor R. J. Lupin_ on it, then filled it with his books and the few clothes he had. He also found some of his old notes in a drawer, notes that he’d made preparing for and planning pranks. He looked them over with a fond smile, remembering all the trouble James, Sirius, Peter, and he had gotten up to as kids.

He stashed the notes into an inside pocket to keep them from crumpling, then walked into the middle of his bedroom and removed one of the floorboards to reveal a small hole underneath. He always kept Sirius’ titanium ring in there during full moons, but right now all it held was a yellowed envelop. He grabbed it, and, without opening it, put it into the same pocket, next to his notes.

He moved on to his kitchen, packing up his tea set and the boxes of tea he had in the cupboard. He was sure he could ask the house-elves to make him tea whenever he wanted, but he liked the process, it always calmed him a little, and let’s not forget that he was a bit of a tea snob, really picky with the blends he drank.

Another memory popped up in his mind, of one of the many times Sirius had made fun of him for not drinking the tea that he was sure they still served at Hogwarts for breakfast, and instead getting up half an hour earlier than the other boys to make his own tea. Remus let his lips curl up in a small smile. For all his teasing, Sirius had never failed to include one of his favourite blends in his birthday and Christmas presents. He was also certain it had been Sirius’ doing when he had received a big box of different exotic blends from the Potters that one Christmas; not that Sirius would ever admit it.

He sighed as everything secured itself in the trunk. It felt nice remembering the old times, but it also hurt a lot. He always ended up comparing the Hogwarts days, when he was with his friends, accepted and happy, with his current life, empty and alone, or just the few years after graduation, filled with tragedy. As teenagers, they hadn’t understood what the war really meant, but then all of them lost their parents within a few years, and, after graduation, started losing their friends.

Remus still had a picture of his classmates that they had taken after the graduation ceremony, but he hardly ever looked at it, as most people ( _children_ , his mind supplied) in it had died about a decade ago, and those who hadn’t weren’t in a happy place either. He thought of Alice and Frank Longbottom, tortured into insanity by Sirius’ cousin, or, well, Sirius himself, sent to Azkaban for crimes he hadn’t committed.

He dragged a hand down his face, forcing himself out of the self-torture going down memory lane was. The sun would soon set, and he needed to be safe and away from everything.

He looked around, searching for things he might have forgotten about, but didn’t see any. A quick mental check told him everything he wouldn’t need in the morning was packed already. He nodded to himself, then went into the bedroom to undress and put on a tattered night gown. He folded his clothes carefully and put them on his bed. If Dumbledore hadn’t been lying, this would be the last full moon for a while that he’d have to spend clawing and biting at himself.

In the hall he casted a few spells, revealing and opening a trap door that led to the cellar. He put his wand and Sirius’ ring in a small box that hung on the wall, then climbed down into the cellar. The trap door closed as soon as his feet touched the ground, and they wouldn’t open back up until tomorrow morning, having been charmed to keep the wolf trapped.

With a deep breath, Remus sat in the middle of the windowless room and waited for the moon to rise.


	4. Chapter Four of Remus Lupin’s eighth first day at Hogwarts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there, I finally sat down to write the next chapter, yay! I really need to set some sort of deadlines, otherwise I'll never finish this, I procrastinate too much. So from now on, I'll try to update on Wednesdays and Saturdays (according to CET, as I live in Europe).  
> We're getting to the longer chapters now, this one's twice as long as the previous one, and chapter five will be even longer. (Also, the .docx where I write this whole thing is now 20 pages long, and I'm just getting started.)

Remus had a bad full moon. He was too hung up on helping Sirius and worried about what would happen in the next few month, and the wolf must have felt it. Sirius had pointed it out several times that the wolf would be a lot more aggressive on full moons when Remus wasn’t in a balanced mental state, and Remus knew he had been right even though he always tried to deny it.

By the time he managed to pull himself together, he only had about half an hour left before the Knight Bus would be there to pick him up. He shifted back into human a short while after sunrise, then spent almost an hour taking care of his wounds. There were a lot of smaller ones that closed as soon as he put some balm on them, but there was a huge gash on his left thigh and a new bite mark around his right knee. It took a long time to get them to stop bleeding, and in the end, he had to do it in the Muggle way, with stitches and bandages. He really hated that magic didn’t work on werewolf-inflicted wounds.

He was tired, he hadn’t slept a moment during the night and the wolf had torn his body apart. Still, he was supposed to arrive at Hogwarts by the end of the day, and the Hogwarts Express was his best option. He didn’t have a broom, he was too exhausted for the Floo or Apparition, and portkeys made him sick to the stomach. He closed his eyes for a moment, focusing on his breathing. A few more hours and he’d be able to sleep.

He dragged a hand down his face, then pushed himself up from his bed. His right knee throbbed as he stood up, but he ignored it. He’d had worse. He winced as he remembered the first couple of full moons after James and Lily’s death and Sirius being locked up; full moons he had spent alone and miserable, full moons after which he was out for days, bleeding out on his cellar floor.

He slowly dressed up, careful not to tear his larger wounds open. He walked to the bathroom to wash up, foregoing breakfast. He had already made some sandwiches for the train ride, though he was sure he wouldn’t eat them. He usually couldn’t eat right after a full moon; it took about a day to get his appetite back. Of course, back at Hogwarts, James and Sirius would make him eat some soup and drink a glass of juice no matter how hard he objected, and it would make him feel better. On his own, though, he just couldn’t do it.

After finishing in the bathroom, he picked up the few things he hadn’t packed away before the full moon and put them into his trunk, then put on a jumper with elbow patches and the brown coat. The Knight Bus would be there to pick him up any minute now. He grabbed his trunk and walked out of the house, locking it up with a quick spell, then waited patiently a few steps from the small street he lived on.

The Knight Bus pulled up a few minutes later, and the conductor jumped down, greeting Remus and going on about the Knight Bus, a speech he was probably obligated to deliver every time somebody tried to get on.

‘Thanks, I know, I booked a bed,’ Remus interrupted. The conductor produced a list seemingly out of thin air, looked at it, then at Remus, and grinned.

‘Mr. Remus Lupin, to King’s Cross, eh?’ he asked, slipping into a completely different accent. At Remus’ nod, he grabbed the trunk sitting on the ground by Remus’ foot, jumped on board, and led Remus to the middle of the bus where he slid the trunk under one of the beds and went on as the driver pulled back into traffic, ‘Ride’s eleven Sickles, for firteen you get ‘ot chocolate, an’ for fifteen you get an ‘ot-water bottle an’ a toothbrush in the colour of your choice.’

‘Just the ride,’ Remus said exhaustedly and fished some Sickles out of his coat pocket to give to the kid. Remus collapsed on the bed, and the conductor walked to the front of the bus after promising Remus to wake him in time. With that, Remus was out in an instant.

He was woken up about an hour later, just as the bus pulled over between two Muggle cars. Remus rubbed at his bleary eyes and let the conductor take his trunk to the door. He thanked the kid and the driver, then took his trunk and set out to get on the Hogwarts Express. As he walked, he felt himself shivering from exhaustion and his joints flare up and cursed his lycanthropy for the millionth time.

He dragged his trunk to the barrier between platforms nine and ten, looked around, then, as he didn’t see anyone in the vicinity, he slipped through to platform nine and three-quarters. It was rather empty; with almost an hour until the train left most students were still on their way to King’s Cross, and this was what Remus had been counting on. He slowly put his trunk on the train and climbed after it, then he dragged it to the end of the train. Back in his school days, most students had preferred to sit closer to the driver, and starting their second year, the last compartment had become the Marauders’ compartment, which had driven the others away even more, nobody wanting to get caught up in their shenanigans.

Remus couldn’t imagine travelling to Hogwarts in a different compartment. He reached the end of the train and struggled a bit to put his trunk up on the rack then crashed on the seat. Exhaustion took him over. He snuggled into his patched-up coat and was asleep in seconds.

*

He wasn’t as deeply asleep as the students filtering into the compartment though, and he did catch some snippets, even though he wasn’t awake enough to make real sense of the conversation. He heard Sirius’ name a few times, and even though that might have been his exhausted brain playing tricks on him, the Daily Prophet had had _at least_ one article about Sirius every day in the last month, so he was inclined to believe the kids were really talking about Sirius.

He slipped into a deeper sleep when the kids started to chat about Hogsmeade, and he spent the next few hours in a dreamless slumber, save for when he thought he heard a girl’s voice _professor_ ing at him.

As the sky started darkening, Remus again came closer to being awake. He heard the rain splattering on the window he was half leaning on, and felt the train slow under him. He swayed a bit in his seat, but now he was hearing whispering around him.

‘We can’t be there yet,’ said the same girl that had tried to wake him up sometime earlier. This caught his attention. He was just about to open his eyes when he sensed how much darker it became in the compartment. So far, he could see the lamp’s friendly yellow even from behind closed lids, but now, nothing. He opened his eyes at that but it didn’t help. They were sitting in complete and total darkness.

‘There’s something moving out there,’ came the voice of a boy Remus thought couldn’t be older than fourteen, as his voice was still rather high-pitched. ‘I think people are coming aboard…’

Remus furrowed his brows at that. It was already dark, they couldn’t have been too far away from Hogwarts. Why were people getting on _now_? Unless…

He ignored the fumbling as two more students came into their compartment and silently cursed Dumbledore. He really could have given him a heads up, warning him the Dementors would check the train for Sirius. He sighed. ‘Quiet!’

The students in the compartment obeyed him, and he took out his wand, conjuring up a little fire on his palm with a soft crack. He glanced around, and almost let out a quiet ‘shit’, when he saw James next to himself. Except James had been dead for twelve years now. He invisibly shook himself out of it, pushing that thought away. He needed to make sure the Dementors didn’t do anything they weren’t supposed to first, then he can deal with his almost-nephew.

‘Stay where you are,’ he told the five kids and gingerly stood up, making his way towards the door between their feet. He wasn’t fast enough.

The door slid silently open, and the flames on Remus’ hand lighted the creature’s features up. Or whatever there was to see under its black hood. It drew its rotting hand back then moved to step into the compartment.

He felt cold wash over him, and he fought to push his memories of James and Lily lying dead on the floor of their house in Godric’s Hollow, and of Sirius being locked up, of the dread he had felt when Sirius’ Patronus told him about the Potters into the back of his head. He noted as Harry tensed and slid down his seat. He needed to focus, he had kids to protect.

‘None of us is hiding Sirius Black under our cloaks,’ he got out, his voice hoarse from sleep and lack of use. And the memories. ‘Go,’ he added, pointing his wand at the Dementor, but if anything, it was leaning even more into the compartment, towards Remus, towards _Harry_. Damn it.

He closed his eyes for a moment, digging deep for a happy memory. There weren’t many that hadn’t been tainted by time, but he found one and muttered the spell, not letting his Patronus take form other than a shield of white mist. He finally caught the Dementor’s attention. It hovered above him for a split second, but then withdrew. Remus let out a loud exhale.

Turning around, he reached into one of his pockets and took out some chocolate. He broke off a piece and popped it into his mouth, then broke it into five, handing them to the kids. He crouched down next to Harry, watching him slowly come to. He helped him get back on the seat and gave him the last of the chocolate. ‘Eat it, it’ll help,’ he told the boy, straightening up.

‘What was that thing?’ Harry asked, not biting into the chocolate just yet.

‘A Dementor. One of the guards of Azkaban.’ Remus sighed. This conversation had to wait, he needed to check on the rest of the students first. ‘Eat it, it’ll help. I need to speak to the driver, if you’ll excuse me…’

The kids didn’t pay him any attention as he slipped out of the compartment and made his way towards the front of the train. Nobody seemed to have taken the presence of the Dementors so badly as Harry, though a lot of the students were shaking. He told some of the older students to have everybody eat some chocolate, and soon the Head Boy and the Head Girl, as well as the Prefects, were helping the kids get better.

Remus did talk to the driver for a minute, inquiring about their arrival, then walked back to the compartment at the very end of the train. Most of the students seemed to be okay now, though some of the Prefects were sitting with some of the youngest kids, probably first years.

As he reached the compartment, he stopped in the door, seeing that Harry still hadn’t started on the chocolate. ‘I haven’t poisoned that, y’know,’ he joked, remembering how both James and Sirius had said the same thing to him whenever they got him chocolate. Harry looked like a deer caught in headlights, and Remus had to supress a chuckle at that thought. ‘We’ll be at Hogwarts in ten minutes. Are you all right, Harry?’

Colour seemed to seep back into the boy’s face as he bit into the chocolate, and he mumbled, ‘Fine.’ Remus didn’t want to push, instead stepped into the compartment to get his trunk, and started walking towards the closest door, levitating his trunk in front of him.

A few minutes later the train pulled up at Hogsmeade Station, and Remus was the first to get off the train. He started walking towards the carriages pulled by Thestrals, watching as the Prefects and older students helped the second years, who had taken the boats the previous year, get to the carriages.

He stood somewhat farther away from the kids, waiting for Harry and his friends to emerge from the crowd, then took the carriage after theirs. He spent the short ride to the castle looking out the window, though it was rather dark already. There was a soft glow coming from the castle and the Moon shone somewhat through the clouds above, but most of the school grounds were consumed by darkness, probably due to the presence of the Dementors. Remus searched the sky but he couldn’t find Sirius, so he turned his gaze to the castle, re-acquainting himself with what he had called home for seven long years.

Hauling himself out of the carriage, he immediately heard a commotion, and, looking over, saw that Harry and his friends got into an argument with a blond boy he recognized quickly to be Lucius Malfoy’s son. ‘Is there a problem?’ he asked the boys, which seemed to cool down the Malfoy boy, though he kept on a cocky attitude as he left the little group behind. Remus stifled a groan, his mind suggesting right away three different ways he could prank the kid into behaving.

He followed Harry and his friends into the castle, though Harry and the girl got called away by Minerva as soon as they entered the Entrance Hall. Remus glanced at Minerva with a questioning raise of an eyebrow, but she just nodded at him in greeting, then led the two kids to her office.

Remus heard a small crackle next to him and looked down to find a house-elf to his left, reaching for his trunk. He gave it to the little creature, muttering a ‘Thank you,’ then walking into the Great Hall.

The Great Hall looked as it always looked in Remus’ memories. Candles were floating mid-air, lighting up the room, while the enchanted ceiling showed the same darkness Remus observed from his carriage. It was a cloudy and rainy night, and he could see raindrops falling from the ceiling, only to disappear halfway to the ground. He remembered the many faces of the Great Hall, of the first time he ever saw it, of the Halloween and Christmas decorations, of the last day of each school year, when the room was dressed in the colours of the house that had won the House Cup. He saw his younger self, sitting at the Gryffindor table, Sirius next to him and James and Peter on the other side of the table, laughing, eating, listening to James moon over Lily, planning pranks, worrying about exams, Sirius making sure he ate after a bad full moon, James and him not letting the Slytherins getting to Sirius’ head…

He walked in reverie to the staff table, though he came back to his senses as he reached it. He searched for a seat that was as far away from Snape as possible and sat down next to the Charms professor. ‘Hullo, Professor Flitwick,’ he greeted him with a smile.

‘Hello, Remus,’ the small man said. ‘Please call me Filius, we are colleagues, after all.’

‘Alright, Filius,’ Remus agreed, finding it a bit strange. Last time he’d talked to this man, he’d just finished his Charms N.E.W.T.s. Frankly, it was about fifteen years ago, still, being on a first name basis with his old professors was weird.

The students had filed in, taking their seats, then the Herbology professor led in the first years who were quickly sorted into the four houses. They seemed so small to Remus; he had a hard time picturing he had ever been like that. But he had, all his friends had.

He pulled himself out of his thoughts as he saw Dumbledore rise, though he knew what he was going to say. When he heard his name, he gave a small wave of his hand, but didn’t receive a big round of applause. Not that he had been expecting one. He was content seeing the few Gryffindors he had shared the compartment with and the Prefects and Head Boy and Girl enthusiastically clapping their hands. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Snape give him a loathing glare but pretended to ignore it. He could imagine how angry Snape must have been when he had learnt that Remus would be taking on the DADA position.

Remus decided, as the food magically appeared in front of him, that he was too tired to deal with Snape. He put a small amount of food on his plate, just as much as he was sure he could stomach (which wasn’t a lot), and started chatting with Flitwick.


	5. Chapter Five of Remus Lupin adopting the Grim

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I gotta admit, I spent a whole afternoon trying to figure out Harry's timetable but JKR makes no sense (based on everything I found in the book, there should AT LEAST be two Potions profs and two or three Transfig profs, oh and the first day of lessons should be a Thursday as the students take the Express on the 1st, which, in 1993, fell on a Wednesday), so I decided to write my own version, as well as a timetable for Remus (he ended up with 24 lessons a week which is quite a lot). Also, there's not much I know about British boarding schools, so if something is really strange, I blame it on the wizards.

Remus woke up on the first day of classes a little less tired than he had been the day before. It was early enough that he had time to prepare a cup of tea for himself (today, he chose white tea, a blend of Pai Mu Tan mixed with some spices) and drink it without having to hurry to breakfast. He quickly dressed up and washed his face, letting the tea steep. Looking into the small mirror above the sink he saw that his skin was still rather grey instead of its usual bronzish colour, though that was to be expected so shortly after a full.

He took the teabag out and threw it into the bin, then settled into his armchair with the notes for his first lessons. He’d have a lot of lessons to teach, with each year divided into two, and everyone having two lessons a week. He was lucky he didn’t have to split up his N.E.W.T. level classes and had only one double period with the sixth years, and another double period with the seventh years. Even with this, he had five lessons almost every day.

He sipped the hot tea as he scanned what he had come up with for his introductory lessons. At least he didn’t have O.W.L. or N.E.W.T. level classes until the next day and he had a chance of getting the hang of things before meeting the older students. That was something.

His thoughts quickly got off track, though, as he was planning the day ahead of him. He’d have to find time between his lessons to go to Filch’s office and get the map. Maybe cutting his lunch break short would solve that. He could go to the kitchen and ask for a plate of food of the house-elves if he were hungry, after all.

The day started out quite okay. After breakfast, which he spent chatting with Filius and Minerva (he was getting used to calling them by their first name), he had a heated discussion with some of the fourth year Ravenclaws and Slytherins about which Dark Creatures were likely to join in Wizarding wars, and which they would stumble upon during trips all over the world. He thought that was a great first lesson. Then in second period he had the first year Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs, who were really small and adorable as they looked at him with wide eyes, excited but afraid.

He let them go to lunch a bit early, quickly ate one of the leftover sandwiches from the day before and decided to go have a chat with Filch. He first checked Filch’s office, but the door was shut, and nobody answered as he knocked. He contemplated going in and searching the cabinets for the map anyway, but he couldn’t. He was now a professor, really, he had to respect the rules for the time being. He’d soon be breaking many of them, after all.

Instead of breaking into Filch’s office, he tried to find the caretaker, with less than satisfactory results. He felt like he was walking in circles, and even though he once spotted Mrs. Norris, her owner was nowhere to be found. Very well, he’d try again later.

He was almost late for his next class, and he was also hungry. Still, he had a great chat with the second years, and then went to the kitchen during the break to coax some lunch out of the house-elves. He took the plate of stew to the staff room to maybe ask one of his fellow professors how to find Filch when he needed him, but promptly forgot about it when he saw Minerva, Filius, and even Pomona standing in front of the old wardrobe at one end of the room.

‘Oh, Remus, just the person we need,’ Pomona greeted him with a smile.

‘Pomona,’ he nodded, eying the wardrobe curiously. It gave a wobble, banging on the wall behind it. His face lit up. ‘Is that per chance a Boggart?’

‘Filius and I found it a few minutes ago,’ Minerva agreed. ‘Maybe you’d like to deal with it, as you are the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor?’ Remus was sure Minerva could easily deal with it, but he appreciated the offer, nonetheless.

‘Actually, could we please leave it there until tomorrow afternoon? I have my first lessons with the third years in the next period and in third period tomorrow, and I think it’d be interesting for them to start with a practical lesson.’

‘All right,’ Minerva agreed. ‘I’ll let the others know.’ She nodded at them, then left the room.

‘Missed lunch?’ Filius asked Remus as Remus sat down at the table and started on his stew.

‘I was searching for Mr. Filch,’ Remus said after he’d swallowed the stew in his mouth. ‘I remember always running into him as a student, but now that I actually want to talk to him, he’s nowhere.’

‘I think he’s usually in his office during lunch break. You just have to go in, he never answers the knocks,’ Filius advised.

‘Right. Thank you.’ Remus silently cursed himself. He should have checked the office. He turned back to his stew, but it didn’t seem to faze the small Charms professor.

‘Have you heard our dear Sybil’s newest prophecy?’ Remus shook his head. ‘Minerva just told Pomona and me about it. Apparently, she saw the Grim in Harry Potter’s tea leaves, and now all the third years who take Divination are afraid.’ Remus almost choked on his food at that. The Grim? In Harry’s tea leaves? That must have been a nice first lesson. Filius didn’t seem to notice his distraction as he went on, ‘Of course, she does this every year, though it’s not usually the Grim she sees, but other, more ambiguous death omens. Still, I agree with Minerva that her predictions are getting ridiculous and someone should put an end to them.’

Remus hummed. He didn’t know Sybil, she hadn’t been teaching back when he’d been a student, and even if she had, he hadn’t taken Divination. But the Grim? Everyone who lived in the Wizarding World knew the Grim. However, Remus was not convinced. Recognizing omens was one thing, correctly interpreting them was something entirely different. A large, shaggy dog doesn’t necessarily mean a death omen, it could easily (and much more likely) be just a large, shaggy dog. And Remus happened to know a large, shaggy dog that looked a lot like the Grim. Or like how the Grim was depicted in most Divination books.

‘Anyway, I’d better get going, the bell will go off in a few minutes,’ Filius excused himself and walked out of the room. Remus looked around but Pomona wasn’t there anymore either; she must have left while he’d been busy with his stew.

He left the plate on the table, knowing that a house-elf would come and take it as soon as he was out the door, and hurried to his classroom where the third year Ravenclaws and Slytherins were already seated. He glanced them over and was surprised to see, or rather not see, Malfoy’s blond head.

‘Good afternoon, everyone,’ he greeted them. ‘I see we’re still missing Draco?’ At that, some of the Slytherins looked at each other, then told him how Malfoy had been injured and was in the Hospital Wing. Remus had to stifle a groan. Antagonising a Hippogriff was a very stupid idea, but an idea he wouldn’t put past Malfoy. ‘Well, I’m sorry he’s missing today’s lesson, because it will be a practical one.’ He instructed them to put their things away and follow him to the staff room.

After teaching them the spell and giving them a little time to figure out how to deal with their Boggarts, he opened the wardrobe and walked to the back of the room, leaning on the wall. He let them all have a go, while occasionally glancing out the window.

As the last student transformed his Boggart from a mouse into Jerry from Tom and Jerry (which made the pure-bloods and most half-bloods really confused), Remus noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. He fully turned to the window, looking for whatever had caught his attention, and he quickly found it. There was a large black dog sneaking into the Forest not far from the Whomping Willow. _Fuck._

‘Alright, everybody, that’s it for today,’ he told them even though they still had almost twenty minutes, locking the Boggart into the wardrobe. ‘Pansy, please tell Draco to come find me after Madame Pomfrey released him.’ He also gave them some homework but wasn’t exactly paying attention, trying to get everybody out of the staff room as quickly as possible. Once he locked the door, he started powerwalking towards the Entrance Hall, using shortcuts he still knew by heart. He also summoned his coat and a thick blanket.

Luckily, he only saw a few students sitting at the lake but as he was headed the other way, they wouldn’t see him enter the Forest, and they would probably think he was visiting Hagrid. He was soon at the edge of the Forest, more or less where he had seen the dog disappear into the trees. After a few steps he stopped and casted a Patronus. The Dementors weren’t supposed to come on the grounds, but he didn’t want to risk it. This time he let his Patronus take its full form, and so a large, shiny dog, not unlike the Grim, was lighting up the forest in front of him.

He was sniffing the air, using the wolf’s senses, and it only took a few breaths to find the trail. He changed direction, walking a bit deeper into the Forbidden Forest, but not deep enough that he couldn’t see the light coming from the direction of the school. The trail he had been following led him to a small clearing. He stood behind a tree and took a moment to look at the dog, lying on the ground curled into a ball. He was skinnier than in Remus’ memories, his fur, hanging in dirty patches, failed to completely conceal how his ribs showed through skin.

Remus adjusted the blanket in his hand, then, making sure his Patronus was visible at his side, walked out onto the clearing. He stopped a few steps from the dog, not wanting to scare him away. A few heartbeats later the dog lifted his head, staring at Remus with unblinking, haunted grey eyes. For a couple seconds, Remus didn’t dare breathe.

‘Hey, Pads,’ he said eventually, barely a whisper. The dog’s eyes moved to his Patronus and Remus heard him let out a small whimper as he realized what the Patronus’ shape meant. The dog pushed himself up on his paws and took a wobbly step towards Remus, who crouched down and reached out with his left. The dog slowly crawled to him, then nuzzled Remus’ hand. He let Remus pet him, scratching behind his ears a bit, but then Remus drew back.

‘You stink, you know that? And your fur is all dirty. Can I cast a few cleaning spells?’ he asked, and the dog nodded. ‘Okay. I’ll try to get most of the filth off. You want me to cast an _Aguamenti_ as well?’ The dog’s nod was more enthusiastic this time, and Remus spent about five minutes cleaning him, then let him have a bit of fun with the water, and casted some drying spells on the both of them afterwards, because Pads sprayed some of the water on him as he was shaking himself off.

‘Better?’ Remus asked, putting the blanket around the dog and sitting down cross-legged in front of him. Pads yelped in affirmation. ‘I have to be back in the castle in about twenty minutes for my last class, but maybe you could shift back to talk a bit?’

Grey eyes searched his own, and Remus tried to appear as harmless as possible, which, given that Pads had a couple of scars on his torso left behind by the wolf’s claws, didn’t really work. Remus guided his Patronus back to sit next to him, and that seemed to do the trick. Pads started shaking, then a few moments later a scrawny, yellow-skinned shadow of a man with elbow-length, once-raven, now matted hair was sitting across from Remus. He quickly grabbed at the blanket and drew it close to him, hiding his ragged prison gear. ‘Remus,’ he croaked out, his voice hoarse from years of disuse.

‘Hello, Sirius.’ Remus gave him a smile, small but happy. His hands itched to reach out and embrace the other but Remus wasn’t sure whether it would be welcome, so he grabbed his coat instead and waited for Sirius to take the lead.

‘Your Patronus hasn’t changed,’ Sirius noted, not meeting Remus’ eyes.

‘Why would it have changed?’ Remus asked, worried but amused at the same time.

‘Because-’ Sirius started, but Remus cut him off.

‘It was a rhetorical question. You cannot give me any good reason why it shouldn’t be you anymore,’ he stated, willing Sirius to look up from the ground. Sirius stilled, glancing at the Patronus once more, but still avoiding Remus’ face. Remus let out a sigh. ‘Sirius. What happened is not your fault. _You_ didn’t betray anyone. Peter did. And even though the Ministry refused to look into it every time I tried to tip them off, I still know that you’d never have done what Peter did.’

That finally got Sirius to look at him. Remus noted that his grey eyes seemed slightly less haunted, and another emotion, something akin hope, rise to the surface. Remus’ hands were trembling where they were clutching his coat, his knuckles white, and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep his hands to himself.

‘You went to the Ministry?’ Sirius asked and Remus could hear the wonder in his voice.

‘Several times,’ Remus nodded. ‘But you know how they are. They’re saving face and stick to their narrative. They’d never admit they made a mistake unless they were publicly forced to do so. Of course, it didn’t help that I was the only one to question them, and I’m a werewolf.’ Remus went quiet, staring at the forest around them, then shook his head. ‘But that’s not what I wanted to talk about. We need to figure out how to approach the Peter issue.’

‘You know?’ Sirius’ eyes went impossibly wide.

‘That he’s here? Yes. I haven’t seen him since the Express, though. He looked a lot worse than in that photo in the Prophet. He must know you’re coming for him, he just doesn’t realize you won’t be alone this time. Speaking of, I’m still a bit mad at you for going after him on your own back in ’81. Though I have to admit I wasn’t surprised in the slightest.’

‘I’m sorry,’ Sirius mumbled, dropping his gaze, and visibly shrinking, which should have been impossible with his already small frame.

This was the last straw for Remus. He let go of his coat and launched himself at Sirius, pulling him into a tight embrace. ‘There’s nothing you need to apologize for,’ he whispered into Sirius’ hair, and felt Sirius shake with silent sobs. Remus held him close, but he didn’t have much time before he had to go back to his classroom. ‘C’mon, Pads, I’ve got class in ten minutes, and I have no idea when we’ll have the chance to have a proper conversation again.’

‘Sorry. You need to go back,’ he got out after a deep breath to calm the sobs.

‘First of all, I don’t want to hear you say sorry ever again, and second, _we_ need to go back,’ he corrected. ‘I’m not leaving you here in the forest. You need proper food, and I cannot keep disappearing in the forest, someone will notice. Snape’s already suspicious.’

‘Snape? What is he doing here?’ Sirius demanded.

‘Teaching Potions.’ Remus shook his head. ‘Come on, Pads, I’ll be late. I’ll look up some spells to make my room safe enough that you can transform back there, okay? And until then, we can always go to the Room of Requirement, nobody will find us there.’

Remus let go of Sirius and stood up, giving him space to shift back into his Animagus form, but Sirius also stood up and threw his hands around Remus. Remus was frozen from surprise for a moment, but then quickly hugged Sirius back.

‘I missed you,’ Remus heard Sirius say, and he squeezed him tightly.

‘I missed you too.’ As they stood so closely, Remus could feel how skinny Sirius really was, and it sent a flash of worry through him. Being able to rest his chin on the top of Sirius’ head wasn’t anything new, he’d been a head taller than Sirius since fifth year, but Sirius used to be broader than him, and he used to carry a lot more muscle mass. Remus could still feel some muscle on Sirius, but he could also easily count his ribs if he wanted to.

Sirius pulled away a short while later. ‘Come on, professor, you’ll be late,’ he smirked, then transformed back into a dog. He dragged the blanket, which had fallen off him when he had stood up, to Remus, who picked it up and folded it.

‘You know, we haven’t agreed on a name,’ Remus mused as they started walking back to the castle. ‘What do you say to Grim?’ Sirius gave a displeased huff. ‘Why not? You look like the Grim. Also, Trelawney, the Divination professor, apparently saw the Grim in Harry’s tea leaves, though I’m sure she actually saw you.’ Sirius’ ears perked up at the mention of Harry, but he still shook his head and gave Remus an unamused look when Remus asked again, ‘So, not Grim? Too bad.’

As they reached the edge of the Forest, Remus’ Patronus disappeared. Remus looked around but luckily didn’t see anyone. He still set a fast pace. ‘Alright, not Grim, but what about Snuffles?’ Sirius bumped the back of Remus’ thigh with his head at the suggestion. ‘Okay, fine, Pads, just stop doing that. Your skull is quite hard, and you’ll give me bruises.’ Sirius rubbed his head over Remus’ thigh in apology.

As they entered the castle, Remus let out a quiet string of curses. ‘I really need to find the map,’ he muttered.

‘Remus, here you are,’ he heard Minerva say. ‘I was wondering if I could have a word.’

‘I still have a lesson, but I’ll come around your office after?’ Remus offered.

‘All right.’ Minerva smiled at him, as if in goodbye, but then she noticed the large black dog behind Remus. ‘Er, Remus, what is that?’

‘Oh, this is Pads. I went for a walk and found him in Hogsmeade. He’s been following me since he saw me.’ At Minerva’s worried look, he added, ‘Don’t worry, I checked already, he’s harmless. Though he seems to have been mistreated, so I’m not completely sure he wouldn’t get aggressive. But I’ll keep him close.’

‘All right,’ she nodded. ‘He looks strangely like-’

‘Like the Grim, I know,’ Remus laughed. ‘I tried to name him Grim, but he didn’t like it.

‘I wonder why,’ Minerva muttered. ‘I’ll let you get to your lesson.’

Remus smiled at her, and motioned for Sirius to follow him, though it was just for show.

‘Maybe you should get him a collar and a leash,’ she called after him.

‘Maybe I will,’ Remus called back, laughing, running up the stairs to his classroom, then remembered what had happened to Sirius’ last collar. Maybe he shouldn’t get him a new one while residing at Hogwarts.


	6. Chapter Six of Remus Lupin recruiting a cat for his cause

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was NOT supposed to be like this. I lined out the next couple chapters, then as I was writing it, I got to 3.6k words before I even got to half of what I wanted in here so I decided to split it up (there were supposed to be 3 more scenes but then things got away from me). This chapter also lives its own life, I swear, the moment Minerva showed up I stopped having any control over what's happening. But yeah, McGonagall just has this effect on everyone, right?  
> Anyway, we shall finally have a proper WolfStar moment in the chapter after this one, and maybe some Harry and Marauder's Map, so stay tuned!

Remus’ last class of the day was with the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff fourth years, and he asked them the same question he had asked the other half of the year just a few hours ago. As expected, the Gryffindors came up with ridiculous answers, obviously trying to outdo each other, and it entertained Remus to no end. These kids were just like James and Sirius when it came to brainstorming. Luckily, the Hufflepuffs had some proper suggestions which seemed to cool down the Gryffindors. Remus still rewarded both houses a lot of points, just for being so active and engaging in the discussion.

After class, he collected Pads, who had been sleeping in his room, and they walked down to the kitchens. Remus wasn’t sure when was the last time Sirius had eaten, but he was sure his last proper meal had been over a decade ago, and he wanted to make sure Sirius wouldn’t get sick just from eating too much or the wrong thing.

After tickling the pear, the doorhandle revealed itself and Remus opened the door, letting Pads enter before him. Just as he also stepped through, a house-elf ran to them. ‘Good afternoon, Professor Lupin,’ he (or she? Remus wasn’t sure; they all had such high-pitched voices, but it was probably a male house-elf) greeted Remus. ‘How can Flappy help you? Should Flappy bring you a second plate of stew?’

Remus stifled a laugh at how the house-elf kept shaking his head, and how the motion made his ears flap back and forth. ‘No, thank you, I was wondering if you could prepare something for Pads, though,’ he said, a hand sinking into Pads’ fur. Flappy squealed as he turned to the dog. ‘He looks like he hasn’t eaten properly in a long time, and I’m afraid that he would throw up the moment he ate a little. I’d rather not give him anything solid just yet.’ He kept his eyes on the house-elf, but he felt Sirius glare at him in disbelief.

Some of the house-elves started making a thick soup for Sirius, and Flappy asked Remus, ‘What does Professor Lupin want? Some dessert? A sandwich? Could Flappy prepare a cup of tea or hot chocolate?’

Sirius bumped Remus’ thigh at the suggestions, almost knocking him over. ‘Pads, come on, stop doing that,’ he chastised, but Sirius just repeated the move, though with a lot less force. Remus rolled his eyes at him. ‘Maybe a cup of hot chocolate, if you don’t mind,’ he gave in, and Flappy disappeared into the chaos of the kitchen.

Remus led Sirius to a side table and sat down, letting Sirius rest his head in his lap, and stroking his fur. Soon a house-elf came over with a large bowl of soup that she put down on the floor next to Sirius, bowed, and went back to preparing dinner, then Flappy appeared at Remus’ elbow with a tray that he put on the table. Remus picked up the mug from the tray, and blew on the hot chocolate, which was, well, hot. He watched Pads licking the soup (which looked a lot like vegetable puree, or pottage), and waited for the hot chocolate to cool down enough that he wouldn’t burn his mouth drinking it.

‘What else can Flappy do for Professor Lupin?’ asked the house-elf with hopeful eyes. Remus hid a chuckle behind his mug.

‘Could you bring up two bowls to my room? One filled with water, and the other for food?’ Flappy nodded with enthusiasm, and his ears flapped loudly. ‘I think it would be probably the wisest if Pads keeps eating this for the next few weeks, though maybe you could add some meat to the vegetables?’

‘Flappy will do so, sir. Flappy brings bowls for Master Pads with water and pottage,’ he nodded again, almost hitting his head on the bench Remus was sitting on.

Pads let out a whine at that moment. Remus looked over at him and saw that the bowl was empty. Pads must have licked it clean because it was shining in the bright light of the kitchen.

‘Alright, I think that has to be enough for now. I don’t want you to get sick.’ Pads stared at him with pleading eyes and Remus sighed. ‘No, if you eat too much at once, you’ll just throw it all up. You’ll have to wait for dinner. Oh, right, Flappy, could you please make sure his food bowl is filled five times a day?’

‘Flappy can do better! Flappy makes bowl so when Professor Lupin knocks on it, it fills up! And water bowl always refills itself!’ He jumped up and down excitedly.

‘Hm. That would probably be better, but what if Pads knocks on it?’

‘No, no, only Professor Lupin. Master Pads cannot refill, only Professor Lupin,’ Flappy said seriously.

‘Good. Thank you, Flappy.’ Remus sent Sirius a grin, then stood up. ‘And thank you for the hot chocolate, I’ll leave the cup out for one of you to find after I drank it, okay?’

‘Flappy will come and collect it,’ the house-elf shrieked, following Remus and Pads to the door. ‘Flappy brings now bowls to Professor Lupin’s room, then Flappy collects cup!’

‘Thank you, Flappy,’ Remus said, giving a small wave with his hand. He and Sirius stopped just outside the kitchen and watched the door disappear. ‘Now, I promised Minnie a chat earlier, didn’t I?’ He glanced at Sirius with a mischievous smirk, and the dog let out a bark that sounded a lot like laughing.

They walked up the stairs leading to Minerva’s office, Remus carefully keeping the mug level so none of the hot chocolate would spill out. The few students they met on their way stared at Pads, probably trying to decide whether they were seeing the Grim or not, and Pads humoured them by staying still until they got close, and then running after Remus, trying his best to give the students a shit-eating grin. Remus just shook his head at his antics.

As they reached their destination, Remus lifted a hand to knock on the door, which opened before his knuckles touched it. ‘Hello, Minerva,’ he called out, entering the room and sitting down in one of the chairs opposite his colleague. The office hadn’t changed much since he had been a student, though there was a painting he didn’t recognize above the fireplace, and the shelves seemed more crowded than he remembered.

‘Hello, Remus,’ Minerva greeted him, then lowered her gaze. ‘I see you’re keeping a close watch.’ Pads barked at him, again with that laugh-bark of his, and let his tongue loll out, then walked up to Remus and rested his head on his thigh.

‘I’m showing him around the castle,’ Remus shrugged. ‘We went to the kitchens to get some food for him.’

‘And some chocolate for you,’ Minerva mused, and Remus nodded with a grin. ‘I remember your fondness of chocolate, and, I have to admit, I’m a bit surprised it took a whole day for you to coax some hot chocolate out of the elves.’ She smiled at him, her eyes twinkling behind her glasses.

‘You started keeping some Honeydukes just for me after I kept declining your biscuits.’

‘Merlin knows you needed it; you were so thin.’ She shook her head fondly.

‘Though as I recall, it was James and Sirius who ate most of it,’ Remus remarked, though it wasn’t completely true. James and Sirius had taken most of the Honeydukes, but they had usually brought it back for Remus, who in turn would share with Lily, and sometimes Sirius.

Minerva’s smile faltered at the mention of James and Sirius. ‘That reminds me of what I wanted to talk to you about,’ she said quietly. Remus arched an eyebrow and took a sip from his mug. ‘You may have already heard that the third years had their first Divination earlier today.’

‘Oh, yes, Filius mentioned something about the Grim?’

Minerva sighed at that. ‘They were reading tea-leaves, and Sybil saw the Grim in Harry Potter’s cup. As you know, Divination is a rather imprecise branch of magic; still, it’s better to be safe, especially in the current situation.’

‘And you’re telling me this, because?’

‘Remus, you need to understand that Albus wants to keep Harry safely away from this mess, but I’m not sure his is the best way to go about it.’ Pads’ growl at the mention of Dumbledore made her pause for a moment, but she didn’t comment. ‘Harry Potter proved the previous two years that he will get himself into trouble, no matter how hard we try to keep him out of it.’

‘You think he should know,’ Remus guessed, petting Sirius’ head with his left and lifting his mug to his mouth with his right. ‘Did he ask you not to tell Harry about Sirius?’ At Minerva’s slightly alarmed look, he explained, ‘I doubt we’d be having this conversation if your hands weren’t tied.’

‘Right, you were always the clever one.’

‘Not really; James and Sirius just got bored pretty quickly. Don’t forget that James made Head Boy in the end,’ Remus pointed out. Pads nuzzled him, but Remus kept his eyes on Minerva, watching her twitch almost invisibly.

‘Right.’ She rubbed her face with a hand, and Remus just now realized how much older she looked now than in is memory. From afar, she didn’t seem any different, but up close Remus could see the tiredness in and around her eyes. He wondered for a moment what had caused it.

‘So, you were telling me about the Grim?’ Remus prompted, and Minerva pulled herself together.

‘Yes. I fear that, with Sirius Black on the loose, Harry will be attacked again this year.’ Pads’ head shot up at that, and he was eying Minerva without blinking.

‘What do you mean, again?’

‘At the end of his first year, he came face to face with Voldemort, or whatever Voldemort has become.’ Minerva kept staring at her desk, avoiding Remus’ eyes.

‘How did Voldemort enter Hogwarts?’ Remus asked, alarmed, his voice strained.

‘Professor Quirrell. He was teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts that year, and as I understood it, he shared his body with Voldemort.’ They sat in silence for a few heartbeats before Minerva continued. ‘Then last year, the Chamber of Secrets was opened by what turned out to be a young version of Voldemort. I don’t know the details, but I believe there was a diary involved that took over one of the students, Ginny Weasley. Harry faced Tom Riddle after she was taken to the Chamber, and by some miracle, managed to defeat him for a third time.’

Pads was now pacing restlessly around them, and Remus sat with a frown on his face, processing what Minerva had just told him. Harry had been attacked by Voldemort, _twice_ , even though he had been supposed to be safe at Hogwarts.

‘You see why I need your help. This year, it may not be Voldemort but Black, but it doesn’t change the fact that Albus wants to keep him in the dark. We tried that route, and it didn’t work. Albus made me promise I wouldn’t meddle, but you did no such thing; you could warn him and teach him how to protect himself.’

Remus nodded, but he wasn’t really hearing the words. ‘Why hasn’t anyone told me about any of this? I was supposed to be his uncle, but then Dumbledore took him to Godric knows where and would only say that he was safe, and now I learn he wasn’t, actually, safe.’ He felt like shouting, but in reality, his voice was barely a whisper. Pads stopped his pacing and lay down on Remus’ feet, nudging his legs.

‘I don’t know, Remus, I really don’t know.’ Minerva shook her head. ‘You should have been there for him, but Albus insisted it would be the best to leave him with those horrid Muggles.’ She flicked her wand and a bottle of Fire Whiskey and two glasses flew to the desk. She poured them both a decent amount then handed Remus a glass, who downed the remaining hot chocolate and put down the mug on the desk before accepting the offered drink.

‘Let me get this straight; Dumbledore left Harry with Muggles? Why in Godric’s name would he do that?’

‘All I know is he believes there is some kind of blood magic there that protects Harry.’

‘Blood- Please tell me he didn’t leave Harry with Lily’s sister,’ Remus begged, and took a large gulp of his whiskey. Pads was back on his feet, obviously distressed. Based on the look he shot at Remus, he had known. Remus made a mental note to ask him about it later.

‘I spent a day watching them, yet Albus didn’t even listen to my protests.’

‘No wonder he refused to tell me. I could have told him that Lily didn’t want her son anywhere near those people.’ Pads growled again to emphasise Remus’ words. Remus covered his face with one hand, pinching his nose as if he had a headache.

‘You can imagine how worried everyone was when he disappeared from Privet Drive in early August, with no way to trace him down, and Black on the loose. Thank Merlin, the Knight Bus picked him up, but Albus still refuses to acknowledge that it could have gone a lot differently.’

Remus had to take a deep breath. He had known Dumbledore for about two decades, and he had seen a lot from him in those two decades, but he would never have thought Dumbledore would endanger Harry like that. Damn it, he had been too focused on Sirius, on proving Sirius innocent, and it never occurred to him that Harry wasn’t as safe as the headmaster claimed. He needed- No, not he, they, he and Sirius, needed to figure out the Peter issue ASAP, to get Sirius a pardon, because there was no way they would let Harry go back to Petunia Evans, not when his lawful legal guardian was right there, Dumbledore be damned.

‘I take it you didn’t know about that either,’ Minerva inquired, filling up Remus’ glass.

‘No, I didn’t. But then again, Dumbledore failed to notify me that Dementors would come aboard the Express looking for Sirius. I haven’t yet had time to tell our headmaster, but one of the Dementors tried to attack Harry, he was lucky I was in the same compartment. Though it may be futile, telling him.’ Minerva gave him a horrified look.

‘I thought he only fainted because of the memories, not because a Dementor actually targeted him.’

Remus stared at her grimly over the rim of his glass.

‘Merlin’s beard, that boy doesn’t only have a mass murderer looking for him, the Dementors also want to feast on him.’ Minerva rubbed at her face once more. ‘Remus, you’re probably the only person I would trust with this. Someone needs to tell Harry that Sirius Black is hunting for him and he needs to be careful for once.’

‘It’s James Potter’s son you’re talking about,’ Remus snorted, but his mind was going a mile a minute. This would most likely mess with his plans and divide his time up even more, but he had to help Harry.

‘I’m aware,’ Minerva said sadly, and Remus almost made a werewolf joke. ‘But Sirius Black is dangerous, probably even more so than Voldemort at the moment. Black sold his own brother to Voldemort, then killed thirteen people with one spell.’

‘But has that ever been proved?’ Remus asked, contemplating. Theoretically, he could confide in Minerva, but then his plans would reach Dumbledore’s ears. No, he’d have to let her figure it out for herself, all he could do was plant the seeds of doubt. ‘You know Sirius never had a trial, and even the investigation, if you could call what Crouch had done an inverstigation, was sketchy at best.’

‘What do you mean? Everybody knew Black was the Secret Keeper, and he attacked Peter Pettigrew on a crowded street in broad daylight.’

‘That’s the point. Everybody expected Sirius to be the Secret Keeper, he was James’ brother, after all, and that is precisely why I don’t believe it. Don’t forget I lived with Sirius for a decade and knew him quite well. I’m sure he would have suggested to switch at the last moment. He was the obvious choice, and the Death Eaters would go after him.’

‘Are you sure he wasn’t the Secret Keeper?’ Minerva asked, and Remus could see she was thinking things through.

‘Sure? No, I haven’t had a chance to ask him,’ he snorted. ‘And they wouldn’t have told me, I was away with the werewolves too much. It wouldn’t have been safe to tell me anything important.’ Remus could not help the bitter edge that seeped into his voice. Pads threw his head back to look at him, his grey eyes full of guilt, but Remus shot him a reassuring smile. He wasn’t angry with Sirius; he had understood Sirius’ actions a long time ago. He was angry with Dumbledore for tearing their little patchwork family apart with the missions and the secrets.

‘Remus…’

‘Sorry. But you have to admit, the way the Ministry worked back then, it wouldn’t exactly be a surprise if they imprisoned innocent people just because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time or looked at an Auror in the wrong way. Or had the wrong surname,’ he added, then leaned back in his seat and let Minerva process.

‘So you think Sirius Black wasn’t the Secret Keeper and they sent him to Azkaban because of his family? But that doesn’t explain Pettigrew’s death,’ Minerva objected, but Remus could tell she was coming around.

‘If he is dead, which I’m not convinced about. Think of it, if they did switch, who could have been the Secret Keeper? Dumbledore offered, but neither Lily, nor James wanted him. I was away all the time, Marlene was dead, Dorcas was dead, Mary was dead, so none of Lily’s friends. Who does that leave?’

Minerva gave him a grimace. She didn’t want to say it, but it was visible she understood what Remus was implying.

‘Now, if Peter was the Secret Keeper, the moment Voldemort arrived in Godric’s Hollow, Sirius had to know who had betrayed Lily and James, and all of us, really, and he would have decided to bring him to justice single-handedly.’

‘Are you suggesting that Peter Pettigrew used the explosion to vanish?’ Minerva stared at him in disbelief, but Remus could still see a strange sort of calm in her eyes. She had always liked Sirius the most out of the four of them even if she had time and again denied it, and being presented with an alternative must have lifted a heavy weight from her shoulders and her conscience.

‘Used? I think he caused it.’

Minerva drew in a loud breath, but she couldn’t argue. It made sense. I made a lot more sense than Sirius Black betraying his found family. Peter Pettigrew had, after all, always been following people, quietly observing from the background. He hadn’t been particularly gifted with magic, but he hadn’t been terrible either, just the right kind of average to go unnoticed by most. The right kind of grey to be a spy.

‘Do you have any evidence? Anything that would convince the Ministry to reopen the case?’

Remus had to snort at that. Pads’ head came back to rest on his thigh, and Remus’ hand immediately started stroking him. ‘I spent about two years after it happened to convince the Ministry that they’d made a mistake. The only way they’ll listen is if someone presents them an alive Peter Pettigrew. As of evidence, I told you. I wasn’t around. Though all the evidence the Aurors had is the muddled testimony of some Muggle standers-by, Crouch didn’t even bother to cast a _Priori Incantatem_ on Sirius’ wand before he snapped it in half.’

‘But- That’s standard procedure!’ Minerva looked incredibly angry with that piece of news.

‘And they never found Peter’s wand,’ Remus added darkly.

‘Merlin’s bollocks. Does Albus know?’

‘Do you reckon he’d have done anything? Sirius is Harry’s lawful guardian. If they hadn’t locked him up, he wouldn’t have let Dumbledore take Harry away from him.’

Minerva dropped her face in her hands. ‘But why now? What changed? Why did Sirius Black break out this summer, and not the last, or five years ago? What does he want?’

‘Knowing his dramatics, he probably wants to commit the murder he was locked up for.’ Pads huffed at Remus but let him keep petting his head.

‘How confident are you that this is how it happened, and not the other way around?’

‘Nothing’s sure until Peter Pettigrew turns up alive,’ Remus avoided answering. He didn’t want to lie, but he wasn’t prepared to give up certain secrets just yet.

‘You have a plan.’ It wasn’t a question. Remus had to smile; Minerva still knew him too well.

‘Maybe. I don’t know.’

‘Well, let me know if I can help. Whatever may be the truth, I won’t let anyone go to Azkaban without rock solid evidence that they’re guilty.’ Remus hummed in response. ‘Do keep an eye on Harry Potter, will you?’

‘I will, don’t worry,’ Remus promised. He drank the last of his whiskey and stood up. ‘I’ll let you get back to whatever you were doing before I barged in. C’mon, Pads, let’s go.’

Minerva waved her wand, and the bottle and two glasses flew back to the cabinet. ‘I expect to be notified, shall anything happen,’ she remarked, then, just as Remus was about to shut the door behind himself, she added, ‘And welcome back to Hogwarts.’

Remus smiled at himself, letting the door close, and his fingers sank into Pads’ fur. ‘Let’s see what the Room of Requirement has in mind for us today, hm?’


	7. Chapter Seven of Remus Lupin and Sirius Black

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I know, technically it's already Sunday, but I'm only an hour late. Anyway, this chapter is all over the place, though I blame it on Sirius and his inability to focus on anything for more than a few seconds. Also, this chapter is again just one longass scene, but I promise we'll finally have some Harry next time. Aaaand after 3 chapters, the first school day is finally over!

The Room of Requirement looked like a mixture of the Gryffindor common room and their old dorm room. Remus simply wished for a place where they could safely spend some time, as he had so many times when they had been students, but it was the first time the Room looked like it belonged in Gryffindor Tower. He cautiously locked the door behind himself and joined Sirius in front of the fireplace.

Pads transformed back as soon as the door was shut, then threw himself down in an armchair. Remus had seen him do that pretty much every day for seven years, and his heart ached for a reality where they hadn’t spent the last twelve years away from each other. Sighing, he lowered himself onto the other armchair.

‘I really thought Dumbledore would realize that sending Harry to those fucking Muggles was a terrible idea,’ Sirius whispered, staring into the flames.

‘I can’t believe all he told me was “He’s safe, don’t worry”. I should have pushed until he told me where Harry was,’ Remus added quietly. ‘All he said this summer, when he came to offer me the DADA post, was that you’re targeting Harry. He failed to mention that Voldemort had attacked him twice in the last two years.’

‘Good old Dumbledore at his finest.’ Sirius’ face was set in a grimace.

‘Lily and James were right. Who knows where we would be now, had Dumbledore been the Secret Keeper. He was never shy about sacrificing a life or two for the greater good.’

Sirius just hummed in agreement, not looking up from the fire. He was leaning forward slightly, his long hair falling from where he had tucked it behind his ear, hiding most of his face. Remus noted he must have lost a lot of hair – sure, it reached Sirius’ waist now, but it wasn’t nearly as thick as it used to be.

‘Do you think the Room can draw up a bath?’ Remus asked, surprising himself, but he went on, ‘We never tried, have we?’

Before Sirius could answer, though, the room changed. Or not really changed, at least not the common room-slash-dorm part. It expanded. A large pool appeared to their left, filled with steaming water. Remus chuckled, and even Sirius tore his gaze away from the fire.

‘I guess that answers my question,’ Remus noted. ‘C’mon, I’m sure you could use a proper bath. Wash your hair and I’ll cut it after, okay? That mane can’t be comfortable.’ He stood up and offered a hand to Sirius, who gazed up at him in disbelief.

‘You would-’ he tried to croak out, but it ended halfway in a whimper. Remus’ heart shattered a bit at the pitiful sound, but he could understand. It had been their thing since fourth year, when Sirius had come back from Christmas break with a long gash on the back of his neck, a visible reminder of his mother’s dissatisfaction with his long hair. Because of that, Sirius wouldn’t let anyone near his hair for months, but then it had gotten too long, and he had wanted to get rid of the split ends, thus had asked Remus to help him where he couldn’t reach the back. After that, he had just let Remus trim his hair every few months. It had become a ritual, a show of trust, a show of _love_ that they hadn’t given up even in the darkest moments of the war.

‘Yes. Now come on, I’m sure you’ll feel better once you had a haircut and are wearing proper clothes.’

Sirius stared at him in wonder, but let Remus help him up and walk him to the edge of the pool. Sirius gingerly lowered himself until he was sitting with his legs dangling in the water. He sighed at the once-familiar feeling of hot water surrounding his limbs. He slowly took off his shredded t-shirt and carefully sank into the water. The motion gave Remus a glimpse of Sirius’ tattoos and scars; the constellations _Lupus_ and _Canis Major_ on his back, the horizontal claw marks around his torso left behind by the wolf, the wide red line from his left shoulder to his right hip – a parting gift from Walburga Black.

‘Oh,’ Remus heard Sirius gasp, and he immediately crouched down next to him, but then Sirius let out a soft laugh. ‘There’s a bench along the wall,’ he murmured while taking off his trousers and throwing them on his tee. ‘You know, I think I could easily fall asleep like this.’

‘Please don’t, I don’t want you to drown.’ Remus frowned at him, but his tone was amused.

‘You’d save me,’ Sirius muttered, then took a deep breath and slid under the water. He came up a few seconds later, shaking his head and splattering Remus with water.

‘Oh, come on, you dog, again?’ Remus couldn’t help but laugh, and Sirius gave him a small grin in return.

‘So, what should I wash my hair with? Did you bring shampoo?’

‘Er, no, I didn’t. But I think the Room can give us something.’ Even before he finished, a shelf appeared next to the fireplace, with several colourful bottles. ‘See?’ Remus stood up and walked to the shelf. He sniffed some of the bottles and settled on a dark amber liquid which smelt like earth and grass. It may not have been Sirius’ first pick, but its smell was soothing.

‘Hey, I- Er, Moony?’ Remus’ head snapped around at hearing his nickname for the first time in too long to look at Sirius, who was leaning on the wall of the pool, staring embarrassedly at him.

‘Hm?’

‘I mean, er, could you help with it, please?’

‘Sure, just let me get these off before you pour water all over me,’ Remus said, poking at his robes. He put down the bottle next to Sirius, and made quick work of his clothes, only leaving his undershirt and pants on. He could feel Sirius’ eyes on him as he set down on the edge behind him, grabbing the bottle once again.

‘Those look fresh,’ Sirius whispered, pointing at the bitemark on Remus’ knee and the gash on his left thigh.

‘They are from yesterday,’ Remus admitted. ‘Now, I can’t wash your hair like this, so please turn around,’ he ordered, opening the bottle. He nudged Sirius’ shoulder, who gave a huff but moved to obey.

‘I see you’re still as bossy as- Wait, is that…?’ Sirius was staring at Remus’ chest in wonder, and for a moment Remus didn’t understand. He followed Sirius’ gaze and realized the chain with the titanium ring had gotten out from beneath his undershirt and was hanging freely now.

‘That’s the only thing I got out of bothering the Ministry for almost two years. Though they only gave it back because it’s not magical and therefore not dangerous,’ he snorted.

Sirius touched the ring with a shaking hand, getting Remus’ undershirt damp in the process. ‘I was wondering- But I didn’t see yours.’

Remus exhaled loudly and had to look away from Sirius’ gaze. ‘I can’t wear it. Not that I don’t want to, but the wolf shattered it a few weeks before I got this back,’ he shook the chain a bit. ‘I tried to fix it but couldn’t; I think only a jeweller would be able to repair it, but I never had enough money to have it done.’

‘What do you mean you didn’t have enough money? Remus, I told you to use the gold Uncle Alphard left to me.’ Sirius’ hands were on Remus’ arms, trying to get Remus to look at him.

‘I know, but I didn’t want to go to Gringotts. I just couldn’t, not after-’ He drew a shaky breath. ‘Anyway, I spent most of the last decade in the Muggle world. I got by.’

Sirius scoffed at him and Remus could tell by the way Sirius’ eyebrows drew together that he was about to go into a tirade, so he quickly pressed Sirius’ shoulder to get him to turn around. Sirius hesitated for a moment but then complied.

Remus poured some of the thick liquid on his palm and started massaging Sirius’ scalp. He probably should have chopped off a good 20-30 cm of hair before Sirius had gotten it all wet, but oh well. He’d make do. He listened to Sirius’ soft humming, and he kept poking his shoulders so that Pads wouldn’t fall asleep.

‘Alright, rinse.’

Sirius sank fully into the water, his hands clutching at Remus’ calves to keep himself in place, and Remus gently thread his fingers through Sirius’ locks to try to get as much of the dirty out of it as he could. He then repeated the whole process a few more times, until Sirius’ hair felt almost like silk between his fingers. Sirius’ hands stayed on Remus’ ankles the whole time, and Remus could almost pretend that they were still students and had sneaked into the Prefects’ bathroom (or Sirius had. Remus had been a Prefect, after all, he had been entitled to use the Prefects’ bath).

‘Your hair is as clean as it will get,’ Remus remarked, patting Sirius on the shoulder.

‘Thank you,’ Sirius said quietly, resting his head on Remus’ right thigh, careful to avoid the bitemarks. Remus kept stoking Sirius’ hair, and they just sat there in comfortable silence for a while.

‘You know, I will fall asleep if you keep that up,’ Sirius mumbled eventually, the words slurring together.

‘You and me both,’ Remus answered, stifling a yawn. ‘Alright, let’s cut your hair before we both drown in the pool.’

‘Please stop joking with that.’

‘Sorry. C’mon, sit up straight, I wanna get out.’ Remus nudged Sirius until he wasn’t leaning on him anymore, then stood up. He grabbed his wand from one of his pockets and cast a drying spell on himself, then asked the room for a towel for Sirius. An enormous, Gryffindor-scarlet towel immediately appeared on the back of one of the armchairs. Remus picked it up, then wrapped it around Sirius as soon as he climbed out of the pool, hair dripping water everywhere. ‘How are you feeling?’

‘Better,’ Sirius murmured into Remus’ neck, snuggling into Remus’ arms. ‘Are we gonna ask the room for clothes too?’

‘Only if you don’t want your old clothes.’

‘Do you still have them?’ Sirius asked with wide eyes, and Remus chuckled at him.

‘Yes. Towel down, and I’ll get them. Though I’m afraid they’ll be a bit too big now.’

Sirius whined a bit as Remus stepped away to retrieve the yellowed envelop he had kept under a floorboard back at his cottage, pulled out a miniature trunk, then cast a few spells to return it to its original size. He pulled out a pair of pants and walked back to Sirius. ‘Put these on. You can choose everything else after I cut your hair.’

‘Okay.’ Sirius quickly pulled the pants on but kept the towel around himself. Remus suspected partly because it was incredibly soft, and partly to hide how skinny he had become. ‘How comes you have all that stuff with you?’

‘I… didn’t want to leave them in my room, not when anyone could walk in without my knowledge. Anyway, we need a stool and scissors.’ The Room provided both, and Sirius sat down, facing the fire. ‘How long do you want your hair?’

‘I don’t know, shoulder blades?’

‘Like this?’ Remus asked, drawing a line on Sirius’ back with his fingers.

‘A bit longer.’ This time he gave the affirmative, and Remus set to work. ‘What else is in the envelop?’

‘Pictures, letters, your last letter, the pieces of my ring; everything I don’t want to lose. Now, stay still, will you? I haven’t done this in twelve years and don’t want to mess it up.’

‘You won’t, I have faith in you.’

‘That’s… not how it works, but thanks.’

‘So, what is your plan? The one you didn’t tell Minnie?’

‘It’s not really a plan. I want to find the map, then we can use it to catch Peter. I don’t trust the Ministry, but as far as I know, Kingsley still works there, and I’m sure he’d listen.’

‘Kingsley Shacklebolt, you mean? He was a great Auror back then, though I’m surprised he’s still there. Unlike those idiots at DMLE, he has a moral compass.’

‘I know. There are a few decent people at DMLE, just not enough.’

‘Apart from Shacklebolt?’ Sirius snorted.

‘Well, there’s Amelia Bones. She was a couple years above us, in Ravenclaw. She tried to help me with your case, and she’s the one who gave the ring back.’

‘I don’t remember her, but I gotta admit, I like her already.’

‘You’re an idiot.’

‘You love me.’ Remus could tell it was a gut reaction, an automatic reply they both had said a million times, but as soon as the words were out in the open, Sirius went rigid. He hadn’t meant to say that, for Godric’s sake.

‘Yeah, I do,’ Remus answered simply, then brushed Sirius’ hair with his fingers. ‘Is this length okay, or do you want me to trim it a little shorter?’ He shoved a mirror in Sirius’ hands.

‘I- Yes, it’s good, thank you.’

‘Good. Now, stay put,’ Remus ordered when Sirius tried to get up, pushing him down on the stool. ‘I’m not done yet, let me add some layers.’

Remus saw that Sirius was fidgeting with his hands, but he kept the rest of his body still, and it didn’t take Remus long to finish his work. He was surprised how easily the movements came back to him, as if that twelve-year-long gap had never happened.

‘Do you think Filch still has the map?’ Sirius asked. One of his hands was holding the towel around his torso, the other was drumming on his towel-covered thigh.

‘I hope so.’ Remus bit his lip in concentration. ‘Because I have no idea what to do if not.’

‘We could write another? I know it would take time, but I’m sure you remember a lot of the enchanting we did, and we won’t have to do months of research this time. If we get me a new wand, I could work on it while you do your professor stuff.’

‘I’m surprised you don’t want to just barge into Gryffindor Tower on a whim.’

‘Gryffindor Tower?’

‘Yeah, all the Weasleys are in Gryffindor. I’ve only had class with the youngest one, Ginny, so far, and she seems rather shy, but according to Filius, the twins are just as big menaces as you and James were.’

‘Filius? First name basis with our old profs now, Remus?’ Sirius teased, ignoring the last part of Remus’ sentence, who rolled his eyes.

‘As if you hadn’t called them all by their first names,’ Remus retorted, then shuffled Sirius’ hair. He though it looked good. ‘Okay, check the mirror, tell me if your hair is okay like this.’

Sirius grabbed the mirror again, but only gave himself a quick glance. ‘It’s more than okay, thank you.’

‘You didn’t even properly look at it.’

‘Well it feels a lot better, so it must look good.’ Sirius shrugged, then got up. ‘Now, you said you had some clothes for me?’ Remus nodded, and watched Sirius rummage through the trunk. He chose a Queen t-shirt he had last worn at the age of sixteen (Remus noted it was the same t-shirt Sirius had claimed to have fled Grimmauld in) and the smallest pair of jeans he could find (its waist was still slightly too big but a charm from Remus fixed the problem).

‘Your shoes are in that box, give it here and I’ll take off the shrinking charm.’ Remus – who had put his clothes back on without Sirius noticing – was pointing at a small box in one corner of the trunk.

‘Do I need my boots though? I’ll just shift back into Pads, there’s no point.’ Remus lifted an eyebrow in response and Sirius huffed. ‘I’m fine, stop worrying.’

‘Fine.’ Remus flicked his wand, closing the trunk, and muttered a couple spells to shrink it back to its previous size. ‘You didn’t answer my earlier question, you know,’ he reminded Sirius as he put the trunk into the envelop, then slid the envelop into his inner pocket.

‘You didn’t ask anything,’ Sirius pointed out, but answered anyway. ‘I didn’t have a plan, or _you_ , last time, and look where that got us. I’d rather not have a repeat.’

‘Me neither.’

‘Can we go to Diagon Alley this weekend? I need a wand, your ring needs a jeweller, and we should take some gold out of the vault.’

‘How can you jump between topics so quickly?’ Remus asked, shaking his head. ‘We need to figure out how to hide you, because, if you’ve forgotten, you’re a fugitive, but I think we’ll manage. Also, you don’t only need a wand, you need some proper clothes.’

‘I have a trunk full of clothes and I’ll be a dog most of the time. You’re the one that needs new clothes.’

Remus pinched the bridge of his nose. ‘Sirius, you’ll need robes and a cloak at the very least.’

‘If I’m getting new robes, so are you,’ he pouted. Remus let out an exasperated sigh. ‘Same goes for a cloak because I saw you were wearing that Muggle coat earlier.’

‘I have a cloak, I just prefer the coat. You, on the other hand, don’t have anything warm enough for winter.’

‘I’ve got my fur,’ Sirius said petulantly. ‘Wait, what about my leather jacket? And that denim jacket with the painting on its back?’

‘They’re in the trunk, why?’

‘Oh, good. For a moment I thought they were gone. But they aren’t, and that means I do have something warm enough for winter.’

‘Sirius, that’s not-’

‘I’m hungry,’ Sirius interrupted. ‘That puree-y thing isn’t exactly satisfying.’

‘You’re gonna give me whiplash,’ Remus complained. ‘I’ve told you. If you eat too much, it’ll make you sick. Let your body adjust.’

‘I hate you,’ Sirius grumbled. Remus lifted an eyebrow.

‘Just because you don’t care about yourself, it doesn’t mean I don’t either. And if that’s not enough, think of Harry. There’s no point in clearing your name if you destroy your body.’

‘…why are you always right?’ Sirius looked sheepishly at Remus.

‘If you took a moment to think sometimes, I wouldn’t have to tell you these things.’

‘I thought we’d established a long time ago that I shouldn’t be the one doing the thinking. Anyway, I’m hungry. Is it dinnertime yet?’

‘Your attention span is shorter than a five-year-old’s on a sugar high.’ Remus rubbed his face, then checked his watch and did a doubletake. They had somehow spent almost two hours in the Room. ‘Who would have thought, it _is_ dinnertime. Though I don’t really want to go to the Great Hall if that’s okay, let’s eat in our room.’

‘Okay.’ Sirius let the towel, that he had curled around himself as a blanket after getting dressed, fall to the ground. ‘Just one question. What about the map?’

‘We’ll check Filch’s office tomorrow. C’mon, the full was yesterday and I’m still rather tired. Let’s turn in early.’ Remus looked at Sirius expectantly, waiting for him to transform, but Sirius instead walked up to him and hugged him. Remus’ arms automatically wrapped around the other man, holding him tightly. ‘You alright?’

‘I’m sorry I haven’t been around to help you during the fulls,’ Sirius mumbled into Remus’ neck, making him shiver.

‘You’re here now,’ was all he replied. He pressed his lips into Sirius’ hair, then stepped back a little. ‘Let’s go.’

Sirius reluctantly drew back, sighed, then changed into Pads. Remus noted his fur looked a lot shinier than before and smiled to himself. With a hand on Sirius’ back, he led him back to his room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're wondering: yes, there is a constellation known as the Wolf (Lupus), but I would have made it up and blamed it on Wizards if there weren't.


	8. Chapter Eight of Remus Lupin and the Boggart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh dear I almost went to bed without publishing this chapter today. Anyway, it's here, and we finally have some Harry! Enjoy!

_Classes with Gryffindors were more fun_ , Remus decided the next day, _but classes with Ravenclaws and Slytherins were easier_. Sure, Gryffindors would chat a lot, but they tended to have outrageous ideas and not even the sober answers of the Hufflepuffs could keep them on track, while Ravenclaws and Slytherins were both quite focused on the given topic – though Remus suspected that while Ravenclaws paid attention purely for the sake of knowledge, Slytherins were using said knowledge to plot Merlin knows what.

After his morning classes, he walked back to his room to have a quick lunch. He figured nobody would ask him why he didn’t show up in the Great Hall, and even if they did, he could just use Pads as an excuse.

He entered his room, and immediately he was greeted by Pads, who launched himself at Remus and almost tackled him to the floor. ‘Stupid dog,’ Remus muttered, keeping himself upright with a hand on the door. Sirius just barked at him and padded over to his bowls, looking at Remus expectantly. Remus shook his head at him, but walked over and knocked on the bowl, which filled up upon his touch, then sat down at his desk to quickly eat the chicken and mashed potatoes one of the house-elves had brought for him.

It took them longer than Remus had expected to get to Filch’s office. Pads kept stopping at corners to give the students a fright as they passed him, and Remus had to comfort a group of second years who panicked so much upon seeing Pads that some of them started crying. They calmed down after Remus let them pet Pads and Pads even licked the face of one of the girls.

‘I’ll get you a collar and a leash if you don’t stop scaring them,’ Remus threatened in a stern voice, and Pads, for once, looked apologetic. Remus still kept a hand on his back for the rest of the walk.

Reaching Filch’s office, Remus knocked on the door, and even though nobody answered it, he entered the room. As Filius had told him, Filch was, in fact, in his office, sitting at his desk and eating, and looked up with a disgusted look on his face when Remus and Pads walked in, though it changed to a somewhat pained but respectful expression as the caretaker realized it was one of the professors.

‘Good afternoon, Mr. Filch,’ Remus greeted in good humour, to which Filch grumbled a greeting. ‘I was wondering if you could help me out.’

‘Help?’ Filch questioned, eying Pads disdainfully.

‘You see, I believe you have something I need.’

‘Do I?’

‘Well, the last time I saw this item, you had just confiscated it.’

‘And what would this _item_ be, Professor Lupin?’ Filch asked, irritated.

‘It is an old parchment that you confiscated from James Potter in June 1978.’ Well, it was more like James had intentionally given it to Filch in hopes that a future mischief-maker would find it and use it the way the Marauders had, but Remus would never let that slip.

Filch thought for a moment. ‘I remember it, but I don’t have it anymore.’

Remus paled. ‘What do you mean you don’t have it anymore? Did you destroy it?’

He wasn’t sure Filch would answer, but the caretaker did grumble out, ‘Someone stole it.’

Remus was sure his face was properly grey now. Pads let out a painful whine. ‘When?’

‘I don’t know. I discovered it three years ago, when I was taking inventory during summer break after the 89/90 school year.’ The caretaker looked rather pained to have to admit this.

‘Do you take inventory after every year?’ Remus asked, a bit calmer.

‘Yes. The summer before it was in that drawer,’ he pointed at one of the filing cabinets.

‘So we could say that someone stole it during the 1989/90 school year,’ Remus stated. Filch nodded with a pinched expression on his face. ‘Do you know who could have stolen it?’

‘No.’

Pads growled at Filch, and Remus pressed on. ‘Are you sure? I’d imagine you know the troublemakers of this school rather well.’

‘I still don’t know who stole it,’ Filch snapped.

Pads kept growling at him, which told Remus that Filch was probably lying. (Pads could usually tell when someone was lying based on their heartbeat. Remus could only do it with people he knew rather well.) He considered pushing a little more, but he didn’t think Filch would budge. He really wished he had been good at Legilimency.

‘Well, if you think of someone that might have stolen it, please let me know.’ Filch scowled at him, but Remus just smiled. ‘I apologize for disturbing you for so long. C’mon, Pads, let’s go. I’ll be late for my next class.’

They walked back to Remus’ classroom, but they were only halfway there when the bell rang. Remus groaned when Pads barked out a laugh. ‘Stupid dog, spare me your Schadenfreude,’ he muttered at Pads, which would have sent the latter into a giggling fit, had he been able of such a thing in this form.

‘I should take you back to my room,’ Remus told Pads, but the dog shook his head pleadingly. ‘Fine. But no scaring the kids.’ Pads lolled out his tongue and jumped up and down a bit. Remus rolled his eyes at him.

When they entered the classroom, Remus noticed that every student had already readied their book, parchment, quill, and ink on their desk. He briefly wondered whether they’d had a practical lesson at all in their first two years in DADA and made a mental note to inquire about it later.

‘Good afternoon,’ he greeted them, and they all turned to him. ‘Please pack your things away, you will only need your wand. Today’s will be a practical lesson.’

The students looked at each other with wary expressions, and Remus suspected they had had a bad experience with practical lessons in the past. Or they never had had a practical lesson and were afraid what it would entail. Still, they all put their things back into their bags.

‘Good. Now if you’d follow me.’ He walked out of the room and heard that the kids tentatively followed him. He didn’t expect, however, that some of them would start screaming. Remus whipped around, then groaned. ‘What did I tell you, you stupid dog.’ He phrased it as a question, but his tone was flat and a slightly bit annoyed. Pads gave him a stare that said he hadn’t done anything, and for once, Remus was inclined to believe him.

‘P-professor,’ one of the girls said in a shaky voice, ‘is that-’

‘It’s a stray I found. I know he looks like the Grim, Godric’s beard, I think he himself knows it, but I can assure you he’s but a harmless dog.’ The girl let out a quiet _‘Oh’_ , but she still made sure not to go too close to Pads. ‘His name is Pads, and you can pet him if you want. Just be nice to him, I think he’s even more proud than a Hippogriff.’ Pads huffed at him but let the two boys that approached him pet him.

Remus gave Pads a fond look, then looked around. He noticed Harry was eying the dog with a strange wariness, but he put it down to Sybil’s visions. ‘Alright, let’s move. Pads, c’mon.’

At that, Pads jumped to Remus’ side and met his long strides, showing off that he really was a well-behaved dog, though Remus suspected it was to show Harry that he didn’t need to linger back from him.

Rounding a corner, Remus heard Pads’ low growl before he noticed Peeves, who was stuffing the keyhole of Filch’s broom closet with chewing gum. Remus stifled a groan, which drew the poltergeist’s attention to him. Sure, the Marauders had messed a lot with Filch when they had been younger, but right now, he needed Filch in a good mood – or, as good a mood as Filch was capable of – and that meant he couldn’t let Peeves get away with his shenanigans. This feeling grew when Peeves started singing _‘Loony, loopy Lupin’_ over and over.

‘I’d take that gum out of the keyhole if I were you, Peeves,’ he said, keeping a pleasant smile plastered on his face. ‘Mr. Filch won’t be able to get in to his brooms.’

Peeves just gave him a loud raspberry, and went back to the gum, pushing it deeper so it wasn’t visible unless someone examined the keyhole rather closely. Remus sighed and drew out his wand. He didn’t like messing with the poltergeist as he had always been a good accomplice, but right now he cared more about the map than about mischief.

‘This is a useful little spell. Please watch closely,’ he told the students. He didn’t add that they wouldn’t find this spell in any book as it had been Sirius and him who had come up with it in fourth year, to stop James’ non-stop gushing about Lily Evans. He said clearly, _‘Waddiwasi!’_ , and pointed his wand at Peeves. The gum flew out of the keyhole and down Peeves’ left nostril. The poltergeist zoomed away, cursing loudly.

‘Cool, sir,’ he heard one of the boys – the taller one of the two that had petted Sirius – say.

‘Thank you, Dean. Shall we proceed?’ He put away his wand, then let his fingers sink into Pads’ fur. The class followed him to the staff room, and they filed inside when he opened the door for them and said, ‘Inside, please.’ He and Pads walked in last, and he made to close the door but was interrupted by an unpleasant voice.

‘Leave it open, Lupin. I’d rather not witness this.’

Remus turned his head just in time to see Snape get to his feet and stride to the door, not sparing the class a glance. Remus stepped back to let him exit, but Snape stopped in the doorway.

‘Possibly no one’s warned you, Lupin, but this class contains Neville Longbottom. I would advise you not to entrust him with anything difficult. Not unless Miss Granger is hissing instructions in his ear.’

Remus knew perfectly well that Neville was in this class, he had, after all, checked the attendance lists weeks ago, to make sure he’d recognize all his students. He didn’t know, however, why Snape would talk in such a hostile way about the boy. He noticed how most of the Gryffindors glared daggers at the potions master.

‘I was hoping that Neville would assist me with the first stage of the operation, and I’m sure he will perform it admirably,’ he told Snape, raising an eyebrow, and strengthening his hold on Pads’ neck, who was practically vibrating under his fingers. Snape looked like he wanted to say something else, but then thought better of it and left without another word.

Remus ignored the bang of the door shutting and walked to the wardrobe at one end of the room. Pads stayed back, sliding closer to Harry between the students. As Remus stood next to the wardrobe, it wobbled and banged loudly on the wall behind it. Some of the kids jumped at the sudden noise.

‘Nothing to worry about. There’s a Boggart in there.’ It didn’t seem to calm the students; if anything, they were now even more apprehensive. ‘Boggarts like dark, enclosed places,’ Remus explained. ‘Wardrobes, the gap beneath beds, the cupboards under sinks – I once met one that had lodged itself in a grandfather clock. This one moved in yesterday, and I asked the staff to leave it to give my third-years some practice.’ Some of the Hufflepuffs nodded; they had probably heard from the Ravenclaws about their lesson the day before.

‘Now, the first question we need to ask ourselves is, what _is_ a Boggart?’ As he had expected, Hermione’s hand was immediately in the air, and he let her answer the question. ‘Couldn’t have put it better myself.’ He went into a bit of an explanation about the Boggart’s form, finishing with, ‘This means that we have a huge advantage over the Boggart before we begin. Have you spotted it, Harry?’

The boy looked like a deer caught in headlights and glanced at Hermione with a nervous expression on his face but tried to answer the question. ‘Er- because there are so many of us, it won’t know what shape it should be?’

‘Precisely.’ After an example or two about confused Boggarts, Remus moved on to the spell, and the class was repeating _Riddikulus_ a few times. ‘Good. But that was the easy part, I’m afraid. You see, the word alone is not enough. And that is where you come in, Neville.’

Neville had an expression on his face like he was going to be ill, but he stepped closer when Remus beckoned him. They quickly figured out Neville’s Boggart and what he could do with it – and Remus would never admit it but he was enjoying this little revenge on Snape enormously. He caught Pads’ eyes and had to look away, or he would have burst out laughing.

After Neville, the other kids had a go one by one, though Pads was trying to keep Harry in the back, probably thinking the same as Remus – that Harry’s Boggart would be Voldemort, and neither of them wanted to have to deal with the panic the Dark Lord’s presence would definitely cause.

Most of them had already had a go when Ron stepped up and turned his Boggart (which looked suspiciously like one of the Acromantulas living in the Forbidden Forest, Remus noted) into a torso without legs and it rolled over and over, before coming to a stop at the back of the room, right in front of Harry. Pads let out a low whine, but Remus was already there, drawing the Boggart’s attention to himself. It hesitated for a moment, and then turned into the full moon. Remus flicked his wand, muttering the charm, and the moon turned into a white balloon, loudly deflating.

‘Forward, Neville, and finish him off!’

Neville stepped close to the Boggart, which turned into Snape once again, then into Snape in Mrs. Longbottom’s clothes, and then exploded when Neville laughed at it.

‘Excellent! Excellent, Neville, and well done, everyone. Let’s see, five points to Gryffindor and Hufflepuff for each of you that faced the Boggart, ten for Neville because he did it twice, and five points to Hermione and Harry, for answering my questions at the beginning of the class.’

After giving them their homework, Remus let them go, but not without seeing the defeated expression on Harry’s face. Pads was still next to the boy, poking his hand with his nose, though Harry didn’t seem to notice. Remus made a quick decision, ‘Harry, please stay for a moment.’ Harry looked up, surprised. He shared a glance with his friends who were reluctant to leave him behind. ‘Don’t worry, I don’t bite. He’ll be with you in a few minutes.’

Hermione and Ron nodded and left the staff room, and Remus closed the door behind them with a nonverbal spell.

‘Wow! How did you do that, sir?’

‘It’s a simple spell, I’m sure you know it already. I just used it nonverbally.’

‘You can do that?’

‘Well, I’m not the best at nonverbal spellcasting, but I get by.’ Pads barked a laugh at that. Remus was sure he’d have said _‘Not the best, my arse,’_ if he had been in his human form. ‘Anyway, that’s not why I asked to talk to you.’ He watched for a second as Pads headbutted into Harry’s thigh, except with a lot less force than he would bump into Remus. Harry let out a surprised yelp, but his hand went to Pads’ head.

‘Why didn’t you let me face the Boggart?’ Harry asked with a determined edge to his voice.

‘I thought that would be obvious. I was afraid Lord Voldemort’s presence would cause a panic,’ Remus said, not breaking eye contact with Harry.

‘Oh. I did think of him at first,’ the boy admitted, dropping his gaze. ‘But then I remembered the train and that Dementor,’ he mumbled, and Remus’ heart did something funny.

‘Well, that would also have caused quite a panic, I’m afraid. But I apologize, I should have warned you.’

‘It’s okay,’ Harry muttered, stroking Pads’ head. Pads seemed to be enjoying himself a lot, and he threw his head back, giving Harry access to his neck. Remus chuckled and crouched down next to the dog, scratching behind Pads’ ear.

‘He’s quite the attention whore, isn’t he?’ Remus said fondly, which earned him a wet lick on his face. Harry let out a strangled laugh, and Remus belatedly realized that he had just sworn in front of one of his students.

‘I- He’s nice, I guess.’

‘Right, Sybil is seeing the Grim everywhere. I forgot. But don’t worry, Divination is a rather… imprecise branch of magic, as I’m sure Professor McGonagall already told you, and interpreting the signs is even hazier. Sometimes a large dog is just that – a large dog.’

Harry gave him a doubtful look, and Remus got the impression that he was debating whether or not to tell him something. For the second time that day, Remus wished he were good at Legilimency.

‘Professor, what if I had seen the Grim?’

‘What do you mean?’ Remus tried his best to keep his tone light.

‘Well, I had a little… trouble, during the summer break, and I spent some time in the Leaky Cauldron before school started, and I think I saw the Grim the night when I left my uncle and aunt’s house.’

Remus gave Pads a searching look, and Pads nodded his head slightly, his eyes shining guiltily. Remus suddenly felt a great urge to facepalm. ‘I’m sure it was nothing more than a stray. As you see, there are dogs out there that look a lot like the Grim,’ he said, gesturing at Pads. ‘I even wanted to name him Grim,’ he continued in a lighter tone, ‘but he wouldn’t have it. I think I still have a large bruise on my thigh to show for his dissatisfaction with the name.’

Harry giggled at that, stroking Pads’ back.

‘Harry, I was wondering,’ Remus asked, his tone a lot more serious. ‘Why did Professor Snape say what he said before class?’

Harry’s expression shifted from happy at being allowed to pet a dog to murderous. ‘We had double Potions in the morning, and we were supposed to make a shrinking potion,’ he explained. ‘Snape threatened Neville that he’d feed his potion to his toad, Trevor, and poison him. Hermione helped Neville to fix his potion, and then Snape took five points from Hermione when Trevor didn’t die.’

Remus frowned and Pads growled. ‘Does Professor Snape do that a lot?’ Remus asked.

‘Yes. He’s favouring the Slytherins, and lets them get away with anything, but he hates the other three houses. I don’t know what he’s like with Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, but he is extremely unfair with us. Though he seems to hate Neville and me the most.’

Remus hummed, thinking. Things were getting a lot more complicated than he had hoped. ‘I’ll have a word with the headmaster. In the meanwhile, please let me know if Professor Snape does or says something out of line.’

‘I- okay, I will,’ Harry promised.

‘Now, go, I’m sure your friends are waiting for you. And if you need anything, feel free to come talk to me.’

‘Alright,’ Harry said, then petted Pads one last time before making his way out of the staff room. At the door, he turned back to say, ‘Thank you, Professor Lupin.’

Remus smiled at Harry, then, after the boy had disappeared, he looked at Pads. ‘Let’s get you some food before my next lesson starts, shall we?’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Schadenfreude: it's a German word for the feeling when you are happy about someone else's misfortune. I don't think there's a proper English equivalent, so I used the German word. Sorry not sorry.  
> Next time our boys will go to Diagon Alley, yay! It's gonna be fun, I promise. Lots of bickering.


	9. Chapter Nine of Remus Lupin and Sirius Black in Diagon Alley

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is basically 4.5k words of WolfStar bickering. Also, I'm starting to realize that I'm shit at writing emotion, so sorry for that.  
> Warning for tea snob!Remus, that scene might be boring if you're not a tea addict. (I am, can you tell? I pretty much wrote Remus buying the tea that I want to buy but don't have space for. And the honey. Not that I don't have 4 jars of acacia, one mixed flower (okay, three, but two are old and have a strange taste), and a half jar of raspberry.)

It took another week before Remus managed to get away from Hogwarts to go to Diagon Alley with Sirius because he was busy with his classes and out-of-class responsibilities.

He tried to talk to Dumbledore on several occasions about what Harry had told him, but the headmaster kept brushing him off, saying that he trusted Snape and didn’t see a problem with his behaviour. Remus was glad Pads hadn’t accompanied him as he was sure the dog would have attacked Dumbledore upon hearing that nonsense.

After the third time Dumbledore threw him out of his office, Remus went to Minerva. She had heard many of her students complain about Snape’s unfairness, yet she made Remus repeat himself twice before she believed what Snape had done this time. She promised to talk to Neville and write to Neville’s grandmother, and admitted to Remus that she hadn’t had more luck with the headmaster than Remus had.

Remus went back to Filch, to coax out of him who could have stolen the map, but Filch kept denying he had any idea, and in the end told Remus the parchment may have been used to start a fire in the caretaker’s office. Remus didn’t believe him for a moment, and Sirius later confirmed that Filch had been lying.

He kept showing up in the Great Hall for meals, Sirius in tow, and spent most of them chatting with Filius, who seemed rather unaware of his motives when Remus asked him whether anyone had managed to outdo James and Sirius in mischief-making. Remus learned about a lot of the troublemakers that had come after his time, and after a few days Filius would tell him about whatever prank that he had witnessed came to his mind without being prompted.

Remus and Sirius worked out a few likely candidates for stealing the old parchment from Filch’s office, but most of them had graduated years ago, which meant they weren’t any closer to finding the map. Sirius suggested sending a letter to his cousin Andy, whose daughter seemed to have been a troublemaker while she’d been attending Hogwarts, but Remus vetoed the idea because _‘Sirius, you’re a fugitive. Andromeda wouldn’t answer you, she’d turn you in.’_

Remus spent most of what little free time he had between all this and his classes casting and improving wards all around his room and office, so Sirius could transform back without the fear of being discovered. Remus wasn’t happy with his work just yet, though, and they went to the Room of Requirement every evening for an hour or two to talk and plot.

The second weekend of the school year finally arrived, and Remus and Sirius got ready for a day spent in London. Remus had told Minerva he’d be running errands in Diagon Alley and had hinted that he wouldn’t be using the gate to leave the grounds but the passage leading to the Shrieking Shack.

So on Saturday morning, Remus and Sirius had breakfast in Remus’ room (or, as Remus kept referring to it, _their_ room), Sirius eating his usual puree and Remus a couple of sandwiches and drinking a cup of Darjeeling First Flush, then Remus packed Sirius’ boots and denim jacket, put on his own battered coat, and they left the castle. It was early enough that most of the students hadn’t yet come down for breakfast and those who had were too busy waking up to notice Remus and Pads.

Reaching the Whomping Willow, Remus levitated a twig to press on the knot on the trunk, and the Willow froze. They quickly disappeared into the tunnel where Remus followed Pads to the trap door at the other end, then upstairs to the bedroom, the only room in the Shack that had a mirror. Remus fished out Sirius’ boots and jacket from his coat pocket and returned them to their original size while Sirius transformed back into his human form.

‘I think these trousers are becoming slightly too tight,’ Sirius noted, even though Remus had adjusted their size the previous evening. Still, Remus could see Sirius was beginning to fill out his form after a week of proper food, and he couldn’t bring himself to make a joke. Instead, he flicked his wand, and Sirius gave a happy sigh. ‘Thanks, Moonshine.’

Remus smiled at him and watched as Sirius put on and laced up his boots, then walked around the room a bit, to get used to wearing shoes. He stopped in front of Remus, leaned in, then grabbed Remus’ wand from his coat pocket and danced out of reach, grinning madly. Remus let out a quiet laugh and shook his head.

‘You could have just asked.’

‘Where’s the fun in just asking?’ Sirius inquired, now standing in front of the mirror and poking his hair with the wand. He had to admit he was a bit rusty when his hair turned bright yellow instead of the light brown he had intended. He shot Remus, who was laughing so hard tears were running down his face, an annoyed look, but tried again. This time his hair turned into the exact shade of neon green he wanted.

‘Ugh, that colour doesn’t suit you at all.’

‘Your face was worth it,’ he shot back, then poked his hair again, turning it into a mop of dull brown, except for the ending that was bright orange.

‘Will you be able to turn it back to its original colour?’ Remus asked, smirking.

‘Yes. Now shut up, I don’t want to blind myself.’ Sirius spent a few minutes poking at his face, his slightly Oriental features shifting into Caucasian. When he was done, he looked at Remus in the mirror, lifting an eyebrow in question.

‘It’ll do. But I sincerely hope you’ll be able to undo all that,’ Remus told him, gesturing at his head. ‘I prefer you all aristocratic and all that crap.’

‘Shut up, Swearwolf,’ Sirius rolled his eyes, but smiled nonetheless. He pulled on his denim jacket, admiring the painting of a wolf howling at the full moon on its back in the process. It had been a gag gift from James and Lily, but, despite Remus’ protests, it had immediately become one of Sirius’ favourite jackets, probably because the wolf looked like a carbon copy of Remus’ wolf form.

Sirius handed back Remus’ wand, then grabbed the werewolf’s arm, who Apparated them to Diagon Alley. They arrived on the steps of Gringotts, and Sirius almost lost his balance.

‘I hate Apparating. I want my bike back,’ he whined, but Remus ignored him.

‘I’ll get some gold, go get started on robes-fitting. I’ll meet you at Madam Malkin’s.’

‘Bossy,’ Sirius retorted, but he started towards the robes shop.

Remus watched him for a few seconds, but then shook himself and turned to the bank. He hated going down to the vaults, which was part of why he hadn’t used Sirius’ money (or, as Sirius insisted calling it, _their_ money), but there were revealing charms and wards in place and Remus couldn’t let Sirius risk it. Sure, the goblins usually steered clear of Wizarding politics, but giving Sirius up to the Ministry paid a nice sum, and the goblins probably wouldn’t have minded all that extra gold.

With a heavy sigh, Remus entered the building. The journey to vault number seven hundred and eleven left him a bit shaky, and the goblin that accompanied him wasn’t exactly a pleasant companion, but he did have a pouch full of Galleons and Sickles when he emerged from Gringotts about ten minutes later.

He slowly walked to Madam Malkin’s, and by the time he got there, he felt a lot better. Though that may have been the chocolate bar he ate on his way.

The bell above the door chimed welcomingly as he stepped into the small shop. He called out a general greeting, and heard an older woman say, ‘I’ll be right there with you,’ and then Sirius’ voice, ‘You were slow, Remus, I’m almost done here.’

Remus chuckled. ‘That’s great, we can go on then.’

Someone let out a loud yelp and Sirius stormed out from behind a curtain, Madam Malkin hot on his heel. ‘Oh no, don’t you dare. You need new robes even more than I do, seeing that you actually wear those stupid things.’

‘Fine,’ Remus admitted defeat. He followed Madam Malkin and Sirius behind the curtain and let the woman take his measurements, then chose a warm brown fabric for the robes. Sirius shook his head at his choice, but he was smiling. ‘Don’t look at me like that. You know I’d rather wear brown than black.’ Sirius wiggled his eyebrows, but then one of the assistants came around with his robes, and Remus barked out a laugh. ‘Gryffindor scarlet, really? You’re unbelievable.’

‘Half of them are black,’ Sirius said, rolling his eyes.

‘And you call me predictable,’ Remus muttered under his breath, but Sirius of course heard it.

‘Now choose a cloak, so we can go and get ice cream.’

‘We’re not getting ice cream,’ Remus argued, and deliberately kept his eyes away from Sirius, who was pouting and giving him his best puppy eyes. He settled on a dark blue cloak the assistant quickly tailored for his height.

‘Anything else for the gentlemen?’ Madam Malkin asked.

‘Where’s your cloak?’ Remus turned to Sirius, who was grinning widely, pointing to a dark scarlet cloak. Remus had to stifle a groan, and muttered once again, ‘Predictable.’

‘That will be all, my dear Madam,’ Sirius told the shopkeeper, then pulled out Remus’ pouch from his coat pocket and paid for all the clothes. They grabbed the bags the assistant had readied for them, and after a heartfelt goodbye (at least on Sirius’ part) they left the shop.

Sirius started walking towards Fortescue’s, but Remus was faster than him and stood right in front of him. ‘Where do you think you’re going?’

‘We’re getting ice cream,’ Sirius pouted.

‘No we’re not.’ Remus gave the other a stern glare. ‘We need to find a jeweller, who knows how long it will take to fix my ring.’

‘But we’re getting ice cream after.’

Remus groaned. ‘Ring, then we’re buying you a new wand, then I want to go to Rosa Lee’s, I’m getting tired of bagged tea. Oh, and Flourish and Blotts, I haven’t been there in ages.’

‘Are you sure you aren’t a sixty-year-old grandpa, with your tea and books and elbow patches?’

‘Well, if I am, what does that say about _you_?’ Remus laughed at Sirius’ aggravated expression. ‘Anyway, let’s make a quick round, then we can get ice cream before Flourish and Blotts.’

Sirius gave him a big smile, and Remus was afraid he’d forget that he was a human for once and try to lick his face. It had happened too many times.

‘I know a great jeweller, and there’s a wand shop a few spaces away from him. I hope they haven’t moved or closed in the past fifteen years.’

Sirius led them to a small shop that looked like it had been abandoned a long time ago, and Remus was about to say that when Sirius let out a victorious whoop. ‘Yeah, he’s still here.’

‘Are you sure?’ Remus asked, eying the dark window cautiously.

Sirius ignored the question and opened the door, waving at Remus to follow him. The shop was a lot brighter on the inside, with shelves running along the walls, stacked with jewellery – rings, bracelets, necklaces, hair accessories, earrings, things Remus had no idea what they were good for, diamonds, gems in every colour possible, Remus even noticed some cufflinks and brooches.

‘Hello,’ Sirius greeted the man behind the counter, who nodded at them.

‘How may I help you?’

‘Well, my friend here has a shattered ring, and we were wondering whether it’s possible to fix it.’

‘I can speak for myself, you know,’ Remus muttered, but fished out a small box from his coat pocket and handed it to the jeweller. The man took it and opened it, carefully taking out the pieces.

‘Hm, do you know who made it?’

‘I… have no idea. It was a gift,’ Remus admitted.

‘I see.’ The man grabbed his wand form a pocket on the wall and casted a few spells. The pieces of the ring glowed this way and that, and the man hummed. ‘As I expected, it is one of my older works. Though I don’t recognize the carving on the inside, I believe it was an addition by whoever gave this ring to you.’

‘Can you fix it?’ Remus asked anxiously.

‘The ring itself should be easy to fix, but I’m not sure about the carving. It has a strange imprint, and replicating it would take a long time. But if it’s just the ring, it wouldn’t take longer than a few hours.’

‘That’s great! Don’t worry about the carving, I think I know how to fix it, but I’m not that good with metal work.’ Remus smiled excitedly. ‘We have some shopping to do, and will probably be around until the afternoon, when should we come back?’

‘Let’s say… Give me three hours, that should be enough. I won’t be able to give you a price until then, but my guess is it’ll be somewhere between five and ten Galleons.’

Remus’ eyes widened at the estimated price, but Sirius gave him a reassuring smile. ‘I think that’s agreeable,’ Sirius told the jeweller. ‘We’ll be back in a few hours!’

The man waved at them distractedly, casting spell after spell to start his work on the ring.

‘Five to ten Galleons?’ Remus questioned once the door had closed behind them. ‘Do I dare to ask how much it costed originally?’

‘I don’t know, to be honest. I inherited the ring from Uncle Alphard, and I didn’t even know he got it from here. And I’ll get the moon back on it, don’t worry.’

‘Of course you are, I have no idea how you did that carving.’

‘You said you know how to fix it,’ Sirius pointed out with a shit-eating grin.

‘That wasn’t a lie, I do know how to fix it. I need to ask you to do it for me.’

Sirius barked out a laugh. ‘C’mon, in here,’ he gestured at a small wand shop. It didn’t look nearly as fancy as Ollivanders, with its dim windows and fading paint. ‘I’m good with wandless magic, but that was a really complex spell and probably wouldn’t work without a wand.’

Remus lingered back as Sirius greeted the witch working in the shop with a grin, making up some story about breaking his wand at home and needing a replacement. The witch didn’t seem to care, and she didn’t make small talk with them, for which Remus was endlessly grateful. She just kept bringing wands for Sirius to try.

Remus watched as Sirius held wand after wand, quickly putting each one back into its box because they were _too flexible, too rigid, too long, too short, not comfortable in his hand_ , or he just didn’t like the feeling. As the frown deepened on Sirius’ face, the witch became ever more exasperated.

‘I think your magic changed so much your old wand’s features won’t work for you anymore. Let’s see… What kind of spells do you usually use?’

Sirius waved with his hands in a gesture to say _whatever_ but didn’t answer.

‘He does transfig a lot,’ Remus piped up. ‘And hexes and charms, mostly.’

The witch nodded with a thoughtful expression, then waved her wand and the boxes flew back to their respective places, just to be replaced by other boxes. ‘Try these ones.’

Sirius kept trying, and his expression shifted from the frown to something akin hope. Remus thought he understood why: the previous wands didn’t do anything but lay in Sirius’ grip, but these ones were all reacting to Sirius’ magic. The witch brought some more wands out, and in a few minutes, Sirius found the one he’d been looking for. He lifted it and did a few little transfigurations around the shop with a wide grin on his face, not noticing Remus smiling at him fondly.

‘Hm, this one is a lot more suited for transfiguration than your old one,’ the witch remarked, sending the other wands back on the shelves. ‘Five Galleons.’

Sirius looked at Remus expectantly, and the latter chuckled. ‘You didn’t give me pack the pouch.’ Sirius rummaged through his pockets, found the gold, and paid for his new wand.

‘Thank you!’ Sirius called out as they left the small shop, then turned to Remus. ‘Now, ice cream.’

‘You’re a child.’ Remus shook his head. ‘No, Rosa Lee’s first.’

Sirius pouted but followed Remus to the teashop. It was a cosy little place, with cups and mugs and pots and everything one could possibly need to properly enjoy their tea on the shelves on one wall, large boxes of loose tea on the other, and a few small tables in between.

‘Good day, gentlemen, what can I do for you?’ the witch behind the counter asked. She was probably only a few years older than them but looked younger in her bright clothes and big smile.

‘My friend here wants to buy up all the tea that you have,’ Sirius joked, grinning.

‘You’re not funny,’ Remus said, rolling his eyes. Sirius shrugged and pretended to examine the pots. ‘I’d like some black tea, what blends do you have?’

‘Magical or non-magical?’

‘Non-magical, I never had luck with magical tea.’

The witch giggled and flicked her wand. Several boxes flew to the counter. ‘These are Darjeeling, these Assam, these come from China, and these are your typical English teas: Earl Grey, Lady Grey, Prince of Wales, and English Breakfast. Oh, and there are a few miscellaneous, like a Russian blend, one from Nepal, and one from Georgia. The country, not the state.’

‘Do you have Darjeeling First Flush? Or if not, Second Flush? I don’t really like the later harvests.’

‘Sure, we have First Flush, I also find it’s the best. Though I have friends who prefer the Monsoon Harvest.’

‘Then I’d like a box of that, and…’ He looked around, contemplating how many boxes he should get.

‘You have bagged First Flush at home,’ Sirius remarked, now standing right behind Remus, almost making the other jump.

‘Don’t do that. And you said it, bagged. Loose tea is an entirely different thing.’

‘Whatever. I really don’t understand your obsession with tea.’

‘That’s because you never bothered to try the good blends. Now, let me pick, or we’ll never make it to Fortescue’s.’

Sirius scoffed and sat down at the farthest table, pretending to be bored out of his mind, but Remus knew he was paying attention. Sirius had never been a tea person, but he liked to gift Remus tea for whatever occasion.

‘Okay, I don’t like Assam, so no to those. I haven’t had Lady Grey in a while, so I’d like a box of that. And let’s see… Do you have Gunpowder?’

‘Green, yes, but not black.’

‘Then a box of Green Gunpowder, and something white. What flavoured Pai Mu Tan blends do you have?’

The witch flicked her wand once again, and five large boxes flew to the counter. Remus read all their labels and chose the one called ‘Dragon Heart’. Sirius snorted, but the witch reassured them that it had been named by Muggles and had nothing to do with an actual dragon or its heart.

‘Do you want any tea?’ Remus asked Sirius, who stared at him as if he had asked something unholy.

‘You know I don’t care for tea, and it doesn’t really agree with me either. I can never sleep after drinking tea.’

‘You realize there are blends that contain no caffeine, right? Pretty much every fruit and herbal tea ever.’ Sirius just shrugged, and Remus turned back to the witch. ‘I remember once trying a forest fruit tea in your other shop in Hogsmeade, do you perhaps still have it?’

‘The sour or the sweet version?’

‘Sweet.’ The witch waved her wand and one of the large boxes started filling up a small one.

‘Anything else? Maybe some honey to go with the tea?’ At Remus’ nod, she pointed at one of the shelves. ‘They are all genuine, we import them from Central Europe. No one likes honey that was tempered with.’

Remus walked to the shelf and looked at all the jars. There was a large variety: acacia, lavender, chestnut, linden, rapeseed, raspberry, and a lot more. He settled on acacia and raspberry.

‘Just two?’ Sirius asked him, amused.

‘I can always come back for more,’ Remus shot back, rolling his eyes. ‘Anyway, you still have my pouch, so please move your lazy arse.’

The witch giggled at them and loaded Remus’ purchase into a bag, throwing in a few sample-sized bags of tea, then Sirius paid for all the tea and jars of honey. Remus snatched up the bag and they waved goodbye to the cheerful witch.

‘You know, you keep calling me predictable, but then you go and buy up half a teashop.’

‘I bought five boxes of tea. That’s not that much. And yes, you are predictable.’

‘You say that like it was a bad thing.’ Remus lifted an eyebrow at Sirius’ tone, and Sirius elaborated. ‘What? Being predictable only means that we know each other pretty well. I mean, we’ve known each other for twenty-two years.’

‘Twelve of which you spent in prison,’ Remus pointed out.

‘Exactly! And we can still predict each other’s decisions.’ He gave Remus a smug smirk, though it looked rather strange on his transfigured face. ‘Like I know you’ll probably get chocolate flavoured ice cream, then we’ll spend at least an hour looking at books and you’ll point out all the ones you liked and I missed.’

‘And you’ll pretend to hate it but then you’ll buy like half of those books even though you could just borrow them from the Hogwarts library.’

‘See? We’re predictable, and that’s good.’

They walked to Fortescue’s smiling and chatting, their shoulders bumping every few steps. As Sirius had predicted, Remus got chocolate flavoured ice cream (though he briefly considered getting something else, just to mess with Sirius), and Sirius chose something awfully sweet whose colour reminded Remus of those Muggle comic and cartoon characters, the Smurfs.

Afterwards, they spent about an hour in Flourish and Blotts, and Remus managed to convince Sirius to only buy about a quarter of the books he had recommended. With the help of a few shrinking and lightening charms, they put all the bags away in their pockets, then decided to window-shop until the three hours given by the jeweller were up, munching on a few sandwiches the house-elves had prepared for them.

In hindsight, it had been a bad idea, Remus thought when Sirius stopped in front of Quality Quidditch Supplies, staring at the broom in the display. Sirius had never been a big fan of flying on a broom (sure, he had been a decent flier and could have become a great Beater but he had never cared that much about Quidditch), but he had been the one to but Harry his first broom. So when Remus saw Sirius’ eyes light up he prepared himself for disaster.

Sirius grabbed Remus’ hand and dragged him into the shop to stare a bit more at the broom, a Firebolt. Remus noticed he couldn’t see its price anywhere and groaned inwardly.

‘We should get this for the Prongslet. What do you think?’

‘I think he has a perfectly functional broom.’

‘He has a _Nimbus2000_ , Remus, this one is much better. Hm, I don’t see its price.’

‘It probably costs a small fortune.’

‘Good thing we have a large fortune sitting in Gringotts,’ Sirius grinned, and Remus shook his head at him as he walked over to the employee sitting behind the counter. The man looked apprehensive but told Sirius the price anyway. ‘That’s not that bad, actually. What do you say, Re, Christmas present for Bambi?’

‘You realize it will rise a few red flags, right? And don’t call him Bambi.’

‘He’s my godson, I can get him whatever present I like.’ Even without looking, Remus knew Sirius was pouting like a petulant child. ‘And you can sort things out for me.’

Remus rolled his eyes, then laughed at Sirius when he tried to drape his arm around Remus’ shoulder but it slid down because he was too short.

‘C’mon, Smurf, I need some parchment,’ Remus said, remembering that he didn’t have any big pieces of parchment left.

After a reassurance from the employee that they could place an order via owl post, Sirius let Remus drag him out of the shop and over to Scribbulus.

‘Wait, do you really need parchment?’

‘Yes, for the map.’

Understanding drew on Sirius, and he followed Remus into the stationary shop, who quickly purchased a few rolls of parchment.

As they exited the shop, they agreed it was time to go back to the jeweller to see what he had done with Remus’ ring. They were greeted with a smile and a perfectly intact ring, sans the carving on the inside. Remus tried it on, and to his surprise, it fit just right. Looking up, he noticed a strange expression on Sirius’ face, though it was probably only strange because of his transfigured features. Remus lifted an eyebrow questioningly, and Sirius smiled at him.

‘S’okay?’

‘Yeah, it’s perfect.’

Sirius grinned, then paid the jeweller the six Galleons for his work. Exiting the shop, he once again tried to drape his arm over Remus’ shoulder, but settled on his waist when his arm kept sliding off.

‘I really don’t know why you keep trying. Just accept that you’re too short,’ Remus teased, putting his arm around Sirius’ shoulder, and Sirius huffed indignantly.

‘I’m not short,’ Sirius argued, pouting. ‘You’re too tall.’ Remus laughed at him heartily.

‘What now? We’ve got everything we planned. I’d rather not risk the Leaky Cauldron, or the Three Broomsticks, but we could go out into Muggle London for a drink.’

‘Are you suggesting day drinking, Remus?’ Sirius put a hand over his heart, pretending to faint. Remus rolled his eyes.

‘Well, I’m pretty sure they’re not serving the hard stuff at three in the afternoon anywhere, but we could get a beer, or maybe coffee.’

‘Tempting. But let’s do that a different day. Right now, I want to go back to the Room and get started on the map. We can drink all we want after the rat has been dealt with.’ Remus hummed in understanding. ‘Also, you’ve got some grading to do.’

‘I could do that tomorrow.’

‘But then you won’t have time to play fetch with me,’ Sirius whined.

‘Child,’ Remus murmured, sighing, but drew Sirius closer to him, and, after a quick glance around to make sure no one was paying attention to them, pressed a soft kiss to the top of Sirius’ head. ‘Hold on tight, I’ll Apparate us back to the Shack.’

‘Ugh, I hate Apparating.’

‘Yes, you already said that. But we don’t exactly have any other option.’

Sirius grumbled something Remus didn’t catch as he shuffled closer, properly hugging Remus’ waist and burying his face in Remus’ chest. Remus tightened his hold on Sirius’ shoulder, and they Disapparated.


	10. Chapter Ten of Remus Lupin’s first full moon with Wolfsbane

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter gave me a lot of trouble, it just wouldn't let me write it. Then Ginny showed up at Remus' door and upset my plans. (I actually read a headcanon somewhere about Ginny having tea with Remus on occasion while he was teaching at Hogwarts, and I just had to include it.)  
> Also, my brain was pretty busy coming up with story ideas instead of focusing on this chapter, so that might be why I had trouble writing this. And posting in time.  
> Thanks to fitmypoems_likeaperfrhyme for mentioning the twins – I’ve had plans for them, but then I read your comment and I got IDEAS.

In the days after their trip to Diagon Alley, Remus and Sirius started developing a routine. Remus usually taught five classes a day, most of which Sirius would spend walking around the classroom, looking for the most comfortable spots for a nap, and the students most likely to give him a thorough pet. He would also listen in on their hushed conversations and hear some funny gossip.

They finished putting up the wards around Remus’ room and office, though they still went to the Room of Requirement on occasion, partly because it was tradition, and partly because they could turn the Room into whatever they wanted. Which was practical when they were trying to determine how many spells Sirius had forgotten. (Not many. His transfiguration was rusty when it came to larger objects, he was still shit at household charms, he wasn’t able to conjure up a Patronus just yet, and his duelling skills had basically disappeared, but Remus reckoned it was just like riding a bike – they would come back to Sirius in no time.)

On Sunday, Remus pulled out the notes he had taken when they’d been writing the Marauder’s Map. They were sitting on the floor of the Room of Requirement, once again a mixture of the Gryffindor common room and their old dorm room, with rolls of parchment surrounding them. Sirius laughed when Remus gave him the notes, because ‘Of course you would still have those, Moony.’

Remus smirked at him. ‘Well, it’s a good thing I do, isn’t it?’

‘I s’pose. Now, help me with the foundations so I can start working on this.’

In the following days, they spent the evenings in Remus’ room, Sirius sprawled out in his human form either on the floor in front of the fireplace, or on the bed that Remus had enlarged to comfortably fit the both of them, working on the map, and Remus sitting at his desk, writing down notes for his classes or grading papers. Sometimes he read the most ridiculous sentences out loud to Sirius, sending him into a giggling fit each time.

On Wednesday, Remus’ last class was a double with the fifth year Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs. He had been warned about this class by several of his colleagues because it contained the Weasley twins, Fred and George, but they had behaved themselves during their first lesson the week before, and Remus was hoping it would stay that way.

So when he entered the classroom, with Pads at his side, he wasn’t expecting to walk face first into a thick and sticky spiderweb. The Gryffindors roared out a laugh, and Remus saw the twins high-five. The Hufflepuffs looked mortified on their classmates’ behalf, though.

Remus sighed and lifted his wand to his face, muttering a countercharm, which, to his surprise, worked. _Oh._ He hadn’t expected it to be so easy, but then again, he was used to James and Sirius’ almost-permanent, no-countercharm-will-get-rid-of-it pranks.

The twins’ smiles faltered, and they groaned in disappointment.

‘You didn’t pay attention in Charms last year, did you? You’d know how to make it stick properly if you had,’ Remus remarked, walking to the front of the room. As he passed the twins, he flicked his wand in their direction, whispering a spell. It covered the twins in spiderweb that didn’t come off no matter what countercharm the twins tried. ‘See, that’s how you do it properly. Now, the jinx will lift when you exit this room, so please pay attention.’

It took the students a few minutes to calm down, and they kept shooting the twins and Remus amused glances throughout the lesson, but Remus felt they were getting comfortable in his class. Their hesitation from the previous week seemed to have lifted now that they knew Remus wouldn’t lash out at them.

Later that evening, Remus and Sirius were sharing some tea in their room, chatting about the day, when Sirius had a questionable idea. ‘Hey, Moonshine, I’ve been thinking.’

‘Always a dangerous prospect,’ Remus chuckled, but Sirius ignored him.

‘You said Filius thinks the twins are like Prongs and I were, right? But that jinx today was something we would have done in, like, third year, not in fifth. I think we should teach them how to pull proper pranks.’

‘And I think you should focus on the map.’

‘Oh come on! It would be fun, just like those prank wars with the Prewetts.’ Remus turned to Sirius just in time to see his eyes go comically wide. ‘Waaaait. Their mother is Molly Prewett, right? Okay, we _have to_ do it.’

‘Sirius, I’m not starting a prank war with my students.’

‘It wouldn’t be a prank war, you’d just teach them. Like today. Like you taught James and me and made all our pranks much better. You know you want to.’

‘We’ll see,’ was all Remus replied, opening his book, but Sirius knew that was the closest Remus ever got to an enthusiastic ‘yes’, and it made him smile like the cat that got the canary.

*

Remus was sitting in his room the next evening, grading, and Sirius was lying on his stomach on Remus’ bed, working on the map when there was a knock on the door. Remus shot Sirius a warning glance, whose head snapped up, and he quickly slid the parchment underneath Remus’ pillow and shifted into his Animagus form. He trotted over to Remus and lay down on his feet.

‘Come in,’ Remus called, and a shy Ginny Weasley walked through the door, carefully closing it behind her. ‘Ginny,’ Remus greeted pleasantly, ‘what can I do for you?’

‘Hullo, Professor.’ She looked around out of the corner of her eye, her gaze landing on the parchments stacked on Remus’ desk. ‘I don’t mean to disturb, I can come back,’ she muttered.

‘Oh, no, don’t worry, I wasn’t doing anything that can’t wait.’ Remus tried to stand up, but Pads didn’t let him. ‘C’mon, Pads, move.’ He gently nudged the dog, who whined and rolled on his side, giving Remus enough space to take a few steps to round the desk.

‘Is Pads really staying here?’ Ginny asked, curious.

‘Oh, yes, you can see his bowls over there,’ Remus pointed with a hand. ‘Do you want to pet him?’ Pads slowly padded to Remus’ side, who let his hand sink into the dog’s fur. Ginny looked at Pads hesitantly. ‘Why don’t you sit down, and I’ll make us some tea.’

Ginny nodded and slid into one of the armchairs pulled close to the fireplace, where a homey fire was burning. Pads walked over to her, careful not to spook her, and lay down between the two armchairs and the fireplace. Remus tapped the kettle with his wand, the water boiling within seconds, and put two large mugs on the side table.

‘What tea do you prefer? I have a nice fruit blend or bagged herbal if you don’t want black or green.’

‘Umm, fruit?’ Ginny didn’t look up at Remus, and he could tell she was uncomfortable. Still, he prepared two mugs of fruit tea, then levitated the side table to sit between the armchairs so both of them could easily reach it. He also summoned the two jars of honey he had bought at Rosa Lee’s.

‘This one is acacia, and this is raspberry. It has a strong raspberry taste, but it goes rather well with this tea.’ He offered her the jars, and she grabbed the raspberry, spooning a large amount of honey into her mug. Pads watched her amusedly, then let out a huff when Remus did the same.

‘Thank you,’ Ginny murmured, still not looking up.

‘You are very welcome.’ Remus took his mug, which said _Fantastic Beast and Here to Find them_ (it had been Sirius’ work, obviously), in his hands to warm them up.

‘I didn’t find you on Saturday,’ Ginny said after a few minutes of silently staring into the fire.

‘Oh, yes, I had to do some shopping in Diagon Alley,’ Remus supplied.

‘For Pads?’ she asked, shuffling closer to the dog, but still out of reach.

‘That too, but I also needed some new robes. And tea,’ Remus chuckled, and he saw Ginny’s face finally drop that hesitant frown. She didn’t smile just yet, but he could tell this topic calmed her nerves a bit.

‘This tea does taste good,’ Ginny murmured. ‘Did you buy Pads a leash?’

‘No, he wouldn’t let me put a collar around his neck,’ Remus laughed, and the corners of Ginny’s mouth lifted slightly. ‘But I don’t mind, he does behave himself. Mostly.’ Pads gave him a pretend-annoyed huff, and walked closer to Ginny, curling up at her feet.

‘He is nice, I guess. He just looks a bit scary.’

‘Like the Grim, I know.’ Remus nodded, smirking at Pads. ‘I wanted to name him Grim, but he didn’t like it. Or Snuffles. Gave me a few bruises with that thick skull of his,’ Remus said conspiratorially in a low voice. ‘He’s quite clever and stubborn, I guess.’

Ginny’s eyes crinkled for a moment, but then her face fell. ‘You can tell if he really is just a dog, right? There are spells for that.’

‘Don’t worry, he’s harmless as long as you don’t taunt him,’ Remus replied without actually answering her question. ‘There are some spells to tell if an animal really is an animal, or a human in animal form, but you won’t learn them for another year or two.’

‘Can you do that with objects, too?’

‘Yes, though that isn’t second year material either. But I could show you a few spells if you wanted,’ he offered, remembering Minerva mentioning a diary that had controlled Ginny the previous year.

‘Really?’ Ginny looked up at Remus with a hopeful expression, and he nodded. ‘I’d like that. The object-thing, not the animal-thing,’ she clarified.

‘Alright. I’ll try to find some objects to practise on,’ Remus promised, and Ginny smiled at him. She dropped her hand to Pads’ head to pet him, and Remus could tell some weight was lifted from her shoulders. Not all, but she was sitting up a little straighter.

‘Thank you.’

Remus smiled and watched her pet Pads, scratching his chin and behind his ears. He was curious why she had come to him, but he didn’t want to push. She’d tell him eventually, he was sure of that, but if he questioned her now, she would just withdraw into her shell.

They sat in companionable silence, the fire crackling in the background. They sipped their tea, and Ginny kept stroking Pads’ back, who seemed to be on the brink of falling asleep.

It reminded Remus of all the times he had sat like this in the Gryffindor common room, sharing tea with Lily, keeping her company after she had received another mean letter from her sister, waiting for her to talk about it. She hadn’t always talked, and sometimes they had just sat there, drinking tea and staring into the fire long after everyone else had gone to bed.

He was startled out of his memories when Ginny placed her mug on the table with a soft _thud_. She rose from her seat, careful not to disturb Pads, who was lying sleepily next to her.

‘I- er, thank you for the tea, Professor,’ she said a bit self-consciously. ‘I should go, I have homework.’

‘Any time, Ginny. Feel free to stop by whenever you want. I don’t promise I’ll always be here, but you can leave me a note and I’ll send a message once I’m back.’

‘Oh- Okay.’

‘And I’ll look for some objects to practise revealing spells on,’ he promised once more. ‘Good night, Ginny.’

‘Good night, Professor.’

Remus watched the girl leave his room, her step slightly lighter than he had seen since the start of the year. Once the door had closed, Sirius shifted back into human and stretched.

‘Poor girl,’ Sirius remarked. ‘Must have had a terrible first year.’

‘Well, Minerva did say Voldemort had possessed her.’ Remus frowned, and flicked his wand to clean the mugs away.

Sirius hummed. ‘I’ve been thinking about that ever since Minnie mentioned it, and I’m not sure, but I think I know what that was about.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Have you heard about Horcruxes?’

Remus shook his head. ‘No, I don’t think so. What are they?’

‘I don’t know much, but there were some books about them at Grimmauld. They’re dark magic. The cutting your soul into pieces kind,’ he said darkly.

‘And you think Voldemort made one of those, and that’s how he managed to possess Ginny.’

‘Let’s hope he made only one.’ Sirius plopped down on the bed with a sigh. ‘Anyway, let’s talk about something else because this gives me chills.’

‘Are there any books in the library about- what did you call them, Horcruxes?’

‘Moony,’ Sirius whined. ‘I doubt, they are really dark magic.’

‘Sorry. Not even in the restricted section?’

‘Remus, you could just check it, but no, I hope there aren’t.’

‘Then we need to go to Grimmauld.’

‘Remus John Lupin, no. We are _not_ going there.’

‘But what if it had some lingering effect on Ginny? How can I help her if I don’t know what really happened?’ He sat down next to Sirius and put a hand on the other’s knee.

‘Rat first,’ Sirius reminded, letting his head fall on Remus’ shoulder.

‘We can do it simultaneously.’

Sirius groaned.

‘No, think about it, this is also important. You’ll take in Harry once we clear your name, but Voldemort wants him dead. If he can come back and possess random people like he possessed Ginny Weasley, how will we protect Harry?’

‘Why are you always right?’ Sirius asked, burying his face in Remus’ neck.

‘Trust me, I wish I weren’t.’ He prodded Sirius to let him manoeuvre them to properly lie on the bed, his arm around Sirius, and Sirius using him as a pillow. ‘You should keep working on the map while I teach.’

‘You know you’ll have to do the finishing touches, right?’ Sirius lifted his head and looked Remus in the eye, who nodded. ‘Great. I’ll also snoop around the Room of Hidden Things to find you some cursed objects.’

‘That place is enormous, shouldn’t we do that together?’

‘I mean, we could swipe through it, but it would probably take weeks, if not months.’

‘We’ll do it in small chunks, however long it takes.’ Remus’ hand was now playing with Sirius’ hair who leaned into the touch.

‘Y’know, I have no idea how you do that.’

‘Do what?’

‘Everything! You teach, you help me, your students, you work on the map, etcetera, and on top of it all, you’re a werewolf. I wouldn’t manage half of it.’

‘Well, I doubt I’d have managed to become an Animagus. Or survive Azkaban,’ Remus added, shivering, his embrace around Sirius tightening.

‘You would have, you’re a lot stronger than I am.’

‘Let’s agree to disagree.’ Sirius pouted at him, but Remus ignored it. ‘Now, get off me, we should wash up.’

‘What about your grading, Professor?’ Sirius raised an eyebrow, but he rolled off Remus.

‘I’ll do it tomorrow.’

Sirius grinned, shaking his head, but didn’t comment, choosing to follow Remus into the small bathroom silently.

*

Time apparently flew when you had as much on your plate as Remus did. Sure, he had known his classes would take up a lot of his time (he was a professor, for Godric’s sake) and that helping Sirius clear his name by catching the rat would be a lot of work, but he hadn’t expected all the miscellaneous tasks that came with teaching. Like giving Ginny Weasley private lessons on dealing with cursed objects to help her cope with her trauma. Or motivating the Weasley twins with pranks to do their studying.

He thanked Merlin on a daily basis that the Gryffindors weren’t paired up with the Slytherins for DADA, because he just wouldn’t have had the energy to sort out their feud on top of everything else. He had no idea how the professors who had Gryffindors and Slytherins in their classroom at the same time kept their sanity.

Still, the second full moon of September arrived too soon. Remus had a debate with Sirius about calling it the blue moon, as Sirius insisted the second full moon of a calendar month was called the blue moon, even though Remus kept telling him that ‘No, that is a misinterpretation, it’s the third full moon of an astronomical season that has four fulls, and we _won’t have a blue moon until next August, Sirius_.’ In the end, Sirius huffed in annoyance and shifted into Pads.

He was still moping around in his Animagus form, curled up on the bed and giving Remus the silent treatment (who didn’t really mind because he had about forty assignments to mark), when the door opened, and Snape walked into the room with a smoking goblet in his hand. Pads’ head snapped up, his eyes narrowing at the sight of the potions master, and he jumped off the bed, walking to the desk Remus was sitting at.

‘Severus,’ Remus greeted, ignoring that Snape hadn’t even bothered to knock. ‘Thanks very much. Could you leave it on the side table? I’ll get to it in a moment.’

Snape didn’t move. ‘You should drink it directly.’

‘Yes, yes, I will.’ Remus grabbed the back of Pads’ neck when he started towards Snape.

‘You should teach that dog to behave,’ Snape said with a disgusted grimace. ‘Though I guess it would be your idea of comfortable, to share a bed with that flea-ball.’ He put down the goblet on the side table and turned to leave, followed by Pads’ growling. In the doorway, he stopped. ‘I have better things to do than bring you your potion, Lupin.’

‘I can come around after dinner, you don’t need to bring it to my room.’

Snape gave Remus and Pads one more loathing glance, then left the room, the door banging closed loudly behind him.

‘Who does that slimeball think he is?’ Sirius growled, back in his human form. ‘I’ll give him flea-ball, I swear-’

‘Pads, let it go. He’s not worth it.’ Remus stood up and walked to the side table. He sniffed the potion, made a grimace, then downed it. ‘Merlin’s bloody balls, this tastes even more disgusting than I expected.’

‘I can’t believe you drank that, Remus,’ Sirius said, now standing at Remus’ elbow. He grabbed the goblet from the other’s hand and sniffed it, almost choking on thin air.

‘Come on, Snape won’t poison me with my Wolfsbane Potion, Dumbledore and Minerva both know he makes it for me. He’d just get himself into trouble.’ Remus took the goblet back from Sirius and put it down on the side table.

‘I still don’t like it. And you called him by his first name.’ Sirius was now pouting.

‘We are colleagues. I call everyone by their first name to their face.’

‘He doesn’t call you Remus,’ Sirius pointed out, and Remus sighed.

‘Frankly, I don’t care as long as he brews me the potion, because _I_ can’t brew it.’

‘I could, I was always pretty good with potions.’

‘Yes, Sirius, I’m aware – no, don’t you dare make a werewolf joke – but no one knows you’re here and the ingredients are both expensive and difficult to get.’

‘We’ve got gold.’ Sirius plopped down on the bed, fishing out the map from a drawer.

‘Yes, but they keep a record on who buys the ingredients, and it would raise some flags if I kept ordering them despite Snape brewing the potion for me.’

‘Will you let me brew it for you once my name is cleared?’

‘Yes please.’ Remus grinned at Sirius, who beamed at him in return. ‘I really hate being in Snape’s debt.’

*

A week later, Remus decided that he was in no shape to teach his afternoon classes as the moon rose around 6 pm and he was already feeling its pull. He walked to the dungeons after lunch to get his daily potion from Snape, then lay down for a nap in his room with Pads curled around him.

He was still dozing when there was a hesitant knock on the door after the first afternoon period. Remus struggled to sit up, and pulled the curtain hiding the bed from sight open. ‘Come in,’ he called in a rough voice.

The door opened slightly, and Ginny Weasley stepped in. ‘Oh, I’m sorry, professor, I was just worried. Professor Snape wouldn’t tell us why he was substituting.’

‘It’s okay, Ginny. As you can see, I’m feeling rather under the weather, but I’m sure I’ll be better in a few days.’ Remus gave her a smile he hoped was reassuring, though he knew how he must have looked. ‘I’ll tell you what, why don’t you come around on Saturday, after lunch? I think I’ll have slept it off by then.’

Ginny gave him a dubious once-over, but nodded and left the room, the door closing with a soft _thud_.

Sirius shifted back to human, pulling Remus back to lie on the bed. ‘You should spend the weekend resting.’

‘You only say that because you want to cuddle,’ Remus mumbled into Sirius’ hair. ‘And I’ll be fine. I took the Hogwarts Express mere hours after changing back after the last full.’

‘Don’t _you_ want to cuddle? I can turn back into Pads and walk around the castle instead of bothering you, professor.’

‘Oh, don’t be a smartarse with me when the moon rises in four hours.’

Sirius chuckled and snuggled closer to Remus. ‘So, are we staying here, or moving it to the Shack?’

‘Shack. If the potion does work, we’ll spend the next fulls here. Actually, we should leave soon, before the period is over and the corridors get crowded.’

Sirius groaned, but let Remus get up, who walked to his wardrobe. He took off the chain that now held both his and Sirius’ ring and slid it into the envelop, which he in turn slipped into his trunk that was sitting on the bottom of the wardrobe. He put up a few more wards so no one could retrieve the envelop.

‘I’ll leave my wand here, you think you can freeze the Willow?’

‘Probably, yeah.’ Sirius stood up. ‘We should bring some blankets with us.’

They picked up the things they would need in silence. Remus pulled on his coat, not wanting to risk ripping apart his new cloak, then Sirius shifted into his Animagus form, and they left the castle. Luckily, they didn’t run into anyone before reaching the Willow. Pads managed to freeze the tree on the second try, barely avoiding one of its large branches on the first, and then they were in the tunnel.

Once in the Shack, Sirius shifted back and helped Remus up the stairs to the bedroom. Sirius poked the bed with his wand until it became somewhat comfortable, then they lay down on it, pulling the blankets tightly around themselves, waiting for the moon to rise.

A few hours later, the pull of the moon became ever more urgent. Remus stumbled to the other side of the room, Sirius watching in concern and preparing to shift into his Animagus form. Remus curled up on himself, his muscles and bones and joints and _everything_ aching terribly, but he was familiar with the pain- Actually, no, this kind of pain he had never experienced. He remembered his transformations all too well, but this pain, this unbearable pain had never been there.

Did that mean the potion was working? Did he feel this excruciating pain because his mind was clear of the wolf? Had the wolf actually spared him by taking over all these years?

He must have passed out during the transformation because the next moment the pain was gone, and he opened his eyes to a dim room. The first thing he noticed was the lack of colour, closely followed by a smell, somehow familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. He looked up and his eyes fell on Pads, who was crouching in front of the bed, his eyes strained on the wolf, unblinking, but keeping his gaze low.

Remus trotted over, that strange smell becoming stronger and stronger. He buried his nose in the dog’s fur and now he could tell for sure; it was Sirius he was smelling, except the wolf’s nose picked up on it differently. Sirius keened, and Remus nipped his ears, careful not to break skin. Not that Sirius would mind, his mind supplied, remembering how he had gotten those scars around his torso. (Sirius had kept roughhousing with the wolf back in fifth year until the wolf’s claws had broken skin, just to prove to Remus that his scars were cool and sexy and nothing to be ashamed of, that idiot.)

Remus took a small step back, bumped heads with Sirius, and nudged him back on the bed. Sirius jumped on the bed after a few moments of hesitation, and Remus followed him, pushing at the blankets until he was satisfied, then curled around Sirius, quickly falling asleep.


	11. Chapter Eleven of Remus Lupin and a late-night kitchen-raid

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ginny crashed another chapter, and it's not even that long. I feel like the pacing of this fic is terrible; sometimes I need three chapters for one day, then I include three weeks in the next chapter. I really need to work on that.

Remus woke up to the sun shining in his face and to the smell of dog fur in his nose the morning after the full moon. His limbs ached, which was nothing new, but he didn’t smell blood. He snuggled into the warmth surrounding him, tightening his grip around Pads. It could have been any other day if it hadn’t been for Remus’ lack of clothing and the pain that coursed through him even at the slightest movement.

Pads shifted next to him. He nuzzled Remus’ cheek in greeting then changed back into his human form, letting Remus curl into his side. Sirius kissed the top of Remus’ head and pulled the blankets tighter around them.

‘How are you feeling?’ Sirius murmured into Remus’ hair.

‘Sore.’ Remus pushed his cold nose into Sirius’ neck who tried his best not to wince. ‘My joints hurt a lot, but I’m not bleeding, I think.’

‘No, you’re not. You pretty much slept for the whole time the moon was up, it was cute.’ Sirius hid a smirk in Remus’ hair. ‘Though I think you did wake up when you changed back.’

‘I don’t remember it,’ Remus whispered in a raspy voice.

‘Let’s just say, it looked quite agonising,’ Sirius said, suppressing a shiver.

‘It hurt a lot more than usual when the moon rose and I changed,’ Remus admitted.

‘What? Oh, sorry.’ He settled back, caressing Remus’ back. ‘Isn’t the potion supposed to make the change easier?’

‘It only tames the wolf.’ Remus sighed. ‘I guess the wolf always took over before the worst part of the change. Still, a bit more pain is a low price for keeping it in check.’

‘Except it sounded like a _lot_ more pain,’ Sirius growled. ‘I admit, my memories may be a little hazy after twelve years in Azkaban, but I don’t remember ever hearing you howl like that.’

‘Really, it’s better than clawing myself open. And I don’t have to worry about attacking anyone.’ Remus slid a little lower, until Sirius could only see a mop of tawny hair poking out from under the blankets.

‘Oh, no, don’t fall back asleep, we should go back to the castle because you need to eat,’ Sirius emphasised. ‘Don’t shake your head at me, you need food, and frankly, I’m getting hungry. Trust me, you’ll feel better in your own bed and with a full belly.’

‘I hate you,’ Remus mumbled, and Sirius chuckled at him, fully knowing that he meant the exact opposite. ‘You know I can’t eat just yet.’

‘Yes, you can. And you should have thought of that before you adopted a stubborn stray.’

‘Stubborn, stupid dog, that is what you are,’ Remus muttered, but let Sirius pull back the blankets a little and shift them around until Sirius could climb off the bed. He got Remus’ clothes and helped him get dressed, keeping a close eye on Remus face to see if he was hurting him.

In a matter of minutes, Remus was dressed, and they made their way back to the castle. Second period had already started, and luckily, they didn’t run into any of the teachers with a free period.

As soon as the door closed shut behind them, Sirius shifted back and put up a few wards so nobody would be able to enter the room. He helped Remus change into his pyjamas, then shifted back into a dog while Remus summoned a house-elf and asked for some soup. After the house-elf disappeared, promising to send up a bowl, Sirius changed back once again and was grinning madly at Remus.

‘I’m still not hungry,’ Remus muttered defiantly, but he ate most of the soup the house-elves had prepared for him.

They spent the rest of the day lazing around. Remus kept drifting in and out of sleep, but he wasn’t nearly as exhausted as he usually would be after a full moon, having slept for about twelve hours as the wolf. Sirius soon pulled out the map to work on it, sitting up against the headboard, with Remus’ head resting on his thigh. He kept stroking the tawny curls with his right while he cast spell after spell on the parchment with the wand in his left.

A few hours later, Remus woke up to the growling of Sirius’ stomach. He blinked his eyes open and looked up at Sirius, who was frowning at the map, his hair up in a messy bun (where had he found a hair tie- oh, no, not a hair tie, he was using Remus’ wand to keep it in place, _figures_ ). Remus chuckled at him, and Sirius glanced down in surprise.

‘Hey, Moonshine,’ he smiled, throwing down his wand on the parchment.

‘Hello, Pads.’ Remus yawned, then rolled off Sirius and stretched. He felt much better than he had in the Shack. ‘Why aren’t you sleeping, it’s like the middle of the night.’

‘I slept a lot last night,’ Sirius shrugged. ‘I’m not exactly tired.’

‘But you’re hungry,’ Remus pointed out, and a slight blush creeped on Sirius’ cheeks.

‘Maybe I am.’ He hummed, giving Remus a calculating glance. ‘What will you do about it?’

‘I’m actually getting hungry myself. What do you say to a late-night trip to the kitchens?’

‘You sure? Shouldn’t you summon a house-elf instead?’

‘Nah, I’m good, don’t worry.’ He nudged Sirius, then got up himself. He threw himself at Sirius to engulf him in a hug, and stole his wand back when he drew away, Sirius’ hair coming down in a tangle, making the man pout. ‘Don’t look at me like that, you’ll turn into a dog in a moment anyway,’ Remus laughed, kissing the tip of Sirius’ nose.

‘It was payback, wasn’t it?’ He shook his head but shifted into his Animagus form.

Remus pulled on his robes, and silently agreed with Sirius that he _had_ needed new robes, though he would never say it out loud. He also put the chain with the rings back around his neck, then lifted the extra wards Sirius had put in place.

They walked through the eerily quiet castle, not meeting anyone. It was probably late enough that whoever had been making rounds that night had finished hours ago. They saw some of the ghosts, none of whom gave any indication that they noticed Remus and Pads.

Then, as they were going through the secret pathway leading from the first floor to the entrance of the kitchens, Pads tensed. Remus shot him a questioning glance, but Pads quickened his pace, letting out an amused huff, and Remus understood at once that he must have picked up a smell, either of a professor he liked, or of one of the more mischievous students. Remus hoped it was the former.

He wasn’t really surprised when it turned out to be the latter.

What did surprise him, though, was that it wasn’t anyone he would have expected to run into in the middle of the night, sneaking into the kitchens.

Fred and George Weasley? Those two, usually joined by their friend Lee Jordan, were sneaking around the castle just as much as James and Sirius had. (Remus refused to include himself because he had been _completely entitled to walking around after curfew as a Prefect, thank you very much_.)

Harry, Ron, and Hermione? According to the stories Filius had told him, they were out of bed quite often, though Remus didn’t really expect to see them walking around because now he knew Harry had James’ Invisibility Cloak.

Some (or many) of the upper-year Hufflepuffs? Their common room was only a corner or two away from the kitchens, and Remus couldn’t remember an occasion when a Hufflepuff _hadn’t_ walked into the kitchens late at night when the Marauders had gone for a late-night snack.

He would have never expected little Ginny Weasley to be out on the corridors at this hour, though. She was standing in front of the painting that hid the door to the kitchens, but when Pads shot out of the secret pathway, she whirled around.

‘Hello, Ginny,’ Remus greeted her, noting how tired she looked.

‘Professor, oh, I-’ She went bright red. Pads trotted over and nudged her thigh until she patted his head. ‘Hi, Pads.’ She glanced down, then lifted her gaze back to Remus. ‘Are, er- Are you feeling better, Professor?’

Remus smiled at her. ‘Why thank you, I feel much better. But I slept through dinner so Pads and I decided to take a late-night stroll to the kitchens to get something to eat.’ He stepped closer to the painting, tickled the pear, then let Ginny enter before him. They were immediately greeted by a bunch of house-elves, who seemed to overwhelm Ginny. Remus quickly asked them to make Pads and him dinner, and two mugs of hot chocolate, and led Ginny to the table he usually sat at. They sat down on opposite sides, Pads slithering through the gap between the legs of the table to lie on their feet.

‘Is this the first time you’ve come to the kitchens?’ Remus asked Ginny, who was looking around with wide eyes, taking in the chaos. Her head whipped around at the question.

‘Um, yes.’ Remus could see she was debating whether to elaborate, but then her jaw set in a determined way, and she continued, ‘I had a nightmare, and when I woke up, the twins were still in the common room, I think they were plotting something, and they told me I should come and get a cup of tea from the house-elves. They told me how to get into the kitchens, and about that hidden pathway behind the flowery tapestry.’

‘How comes they didn’t accompany you? They seem like the kind of troublemakers that would find any excuse to walk around after curfew.’ Ginny just shrugged.

Flappy walked to the table and set down a large plate of mashed potatoes and chicken cooked so soft Remus could tear it into pieces with his fork in front of Remus, and another elf brought a large bowl of puree for Sirius, then Flappy came back with two large mugs of hot chocolate.

‘Actually, could we swap mugs?’ Remus asked, noticing which mugs Flappy had chosen. Ginny obeyed with a confused look. ‘Sorry, this mug used to be mine when I was a student myself. I guess old habits die hard.’ He shrugged, digging in.

‘Did you come to the kitchens often?’ Ginny inquired, taking a sip.

‘All the time,’ Remus chuckled. ‘I used to spend a lot of time in the library and often missed meals, and two of my friends were in detention pretty much every other night, and we thought calling a house-elf wasn’t as fun as sneaking out for a late-night snack. We even charmed our favourite constellations on the mugs to distinguish them from each other. We would still end up drinking from each other’s mugs more often than not, though.’ He laughed, shovelling some more food in his mouth.

‘I recognize yours is Canis Major,’ Ginny smiled, ‘but what constellation is this?’

‘That’s Pyxis, the Compass. Well, mariner’s compass. I thought we had changed that to Cassiopeia, but that must have been temporary. It belonged to one of my closest friends, and she got Pyxis because she was the only responsible person in our group.’

Ginny sipped her hot chocolate, deep in thought. ‘But didn’t you say you charmed your favourites on the mugs?’

‘Well, originally, yes, but that was just the four of us boys. She,’ he pointed at the mug, ‘only joined our late-night escapades when she started dating one of my friends in seventh year.’

Ginny hummed in understanding. ‘What constellations did your friends choose?’

‘Well, one of them chose Leo because we were Gryffindors, and the other two were Lepus and Lupus, based on some inside jokes.’ Remus smiled fondly, reminiscing. ‘Then, after OWLs, some of our other friends joined us for cake, and we added Monoceros – the Unicorn – and Pegasus to the mix, then in seventh year we sometimes crashed here, revising for NEWTs, and we charmed Columba, Cygnus, and a few more, one for everyone who was part of our study group.’

‘That sounds great. Were you actually allowed to hang out in the kitchens?’

‘Godric, no,’ Remus laughed, then wolfed down the rest of his dinner. ‘But I think Professor McGonagall preferred it to us wreaking havoc and pulling pranks, so she let it slide.’

‘I don’t think I can imagine you pulling pranks like my brothers do.’

‘Well, I usually left the execution to my friends and focused on the planning instead.’ Remus grabbed his hot chocolate and took a sip, enjoying the taste, then bent down to check on Pads, who was licking his bowl clean. When he sensed Remus’ gaze, he looked up, then abandoned the bowl and slid out from underneath the table to lie on the bench next to Remus, his head resting on Remus’ lap. ‘I tried to avoid getting caught red-handed because, you see, I was a Prefect and was supposed to keep those three under control.’

Ginny giggled, her tired eyes crinkling. ‘That sounds like my brother Charlie. He graduated a few years ago, and he had this Hufflepuff friend, Tonks, and they would pull pranks all the time, but no one ever suspected them because Tonks is a Metamorphmagus and she always turned into other students or sometimes even teachers.’

Remus grinned at her, sipping his hot chocolate, and scratching Pads behind the ears.

‘I wish I had a friend like Tonks, or friends like you have,’ Ginny mumbled. ‘It must be so great to have such good friends. I mean, I have my brothers, but Bill’s in Egypt, Charlie’s in Romania, Percy’s no fun, the twins are always busy with each other, and Ron gets into trouble with his own friends all the time.’

‘It _was_ great, having all those friends,’ Remus remarked quietly.

‘Past tense?’ Ginny asked, tensing up.

‘I lost most of them in the war,’ Remus confessed. Pads nudged his side comfortingly.

‘I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.’

‘It’s okay, I wouldn’t be talking about it if I didn’t want to,’ Remus reassured her. ‘Took me some time and a lot of help to come to terms with it, but I’m fine now.’

Ginny still had a slightly ashamed expression on her face, and Pads must have sensed it, because he jumped off Remus’ lap and padded over to Ginny, licking her face to comfort him.

‘Oi, no, Pads, that’s disgusting.’ She tried to push the dog away, but he didn’t budge.

Remus watched them with a fond smile. ‘He won’t leave you alone until he’s sure you’re okay,’ Remus remarked. ‘I swear, he has a sixth sense to identify emotions.’

‘Sixth sense?’ Ginny asked, confused.

‘It’s a Muggle expression. It means he has a special talent for something.’

‘The Muggles come up with the strangest things,’ Ginny said. She had managed to get Pads to lie down and was now stroking his head.

Remus shrugged a shoulder. ‘They have also come up with great things.’

‘I know, dad is completely fascinated by them. Last summer, when Harry was over, dad kept asking him about all these Muggle objects, what do you call them, devices? It was fun.’

‘That reminds me of my two pure-blood friends. One of them had this huge crush on a Muggle-born and kept pestering me about Muggle stuff, and the other had a pretty stuck-up family and he started using Muggle objects and listening to Muggle music to piss them off.’

Ginny laughed loudly. ‘They sound fun.’

‘Yes. Yes, they were.’ Remus smiled a little sadly, staring into his mug. He had almost finished his hot chocolate, though he couldn’t remember drinking it.

Ginny sighed, putting her mug down. ‘I should go back to the Tower,’ she stated. ‘Thank you for not giving me detention on the spot.’

‘Well, it would have been a little pretentious of me,’ Remus chuckled. ‘And I know that’s the last thing one needs after a nightmare. Now, give me a moment to finish this, and I’ll walk you back to Gryffindor Tower.’ Remus drank the last of his hot chocolate, then asked Flappy to bring up a mug to his room, which made Ginny stifle a giggle.

‘You really like hot chocolate,’ she noted.

‘I really like any type of chocolate,’ Remus corrected. ‘I always had a secret stash of Honeydukes best, and I would hex anyone who touched it. One of my friends walked around with green skin for a whole day after he had messed with my chocolate.’

Pads let out a laugh-bark, obviously remembering that day James had tried to borrow (or at least he had insisted he would have bought Remus another) a chocolate bar from Remus’ trunk but the hex protecting it changed James’ skin to an awful shade of green, and even though James had told everyone it had been intentional, he had had seafoam-coloured skin for the next twenty-four hours because Remus had refused to use the countercharm.

‘I’ll make sure to avoid your chocolate, then,’ Ginny joked, getting up from the table.

‘I’ve gotten a lot better at sharing since. Though I’ll need to make a trip to Hogsmeade soon, my stash is running low. I mean, lower than usual.’ Remus followed Ginny and Pads out of the kitchens, saying good night to the elves a few times.

They took the same way Remus and Sirius usually had taken after nightmare-induced late-night hot chocolate-runs, leading through secret pathways and staircases. Ginny seemed to have lost track pretty early on, and was just following Remus’ lead, trusting him not to get lost. Soon enough, they were standing in front of a napping Fat Lady.

‘Thank you for the chat, Professor,’ Ginny said, her cheeks slightly pink. ‘It helped a lot.’

‘Anytime. Though maybe send me a note next time instead of sneaking out. It’s nothing short of a miracle that nobody has seen you.’ Remus smiled warmly at the girl.

‘Okay, but how can I send you a note?’

‘Excellent question. I’ll teach you a charm for it, but until then, ask one of the house-elves to deliver it to me. Flappy is rather enthusiastic to help, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.’

‘I will. Good night, Professor.’ She gave Remus a small smile and patted Pads.

‘Good night, Ginny.’ Remus watched as she turned and took a few steps toward the portrait, but then she stopped, one hand coming up to play with her hair.

‘Um, Professor?’ she asked, turning back to Remus. ‘I almost forgot I wanted to ask you something.’ Remus raised an eyebrow in surprise and motioned for her to continue. ‘When Professor Snape substituted for you on Thursday, he told us to write two rolls of parchment and hand it in to him by Monday. Do we really have to write it? I mean, can he even do that?’

‘Two _rolls_? On what topic?’

Ginny hesitated for a moment, but then said, ‘On how to recognize a werewolf.’ Remus’ face twisted in a frown, but Ginny went on, ‘We tried to tell him we hadn’t learned about werewolves yet, but he didn’t care. He was really mean the whole time.’

‘That topic is- Pads, hush, you’re gonna wake up the whole castle,’ Remus warned Pads, whose growls had been getting louder and louder since the first mention of Snape. ‘That topic is not even covered in second year. I don’t know why Snape thought it was an appropriate topic and that he had to give you homework, but I’ll talk to him. You don’t have to write that paper.’ Remus maintained a calm façade, but his hands were shaking by his sides.

Ginny nodded. ‘I’ll tell the others, but I’m not sure if they’ll believe me.’

Remus’ frown deepened. ‘I’ll come to the Tower after breakfast,’ he promised.

‘Can I still come to your room after lunch?’

That threw Remus off a bit. ‘Of course, I have some new cursed objects for you.’

Ginny bit her lip. ‘I just thought-’

‘Hey, no. I told you, you can come to chat whenever you want to. Or just to sit around, I wouldn’t mind.’ He squeezed her shoulder reassuringly, and Pads nuzzled her hand.

‘Thank you, Professor,’ she mumbled, dropping her gaze. She patted Pads one last time, then, waving Remus good night, she woke the Fat Lady, told her the password, and climbed through the portrait hole.

‘C’mon, Pads, we should go back to bed, too.’

They quickly made their way back to their room, where Pads changed back almost before the door had closed, and started pacing angrily.

‘What does that slimeball think he’s doing?’ Sirius asked the room, fuming. ‘I will curse him into next year. I can’t believe he’s still trying to expose you, that git.’

‘Sirius, please. I’ll talk to Dumbledore tomorrow, he won’t want to lose a teacher so early into the year. And you’re not cursing anyone. You’re still a fugitive.’

‘Don’t be the voice of reason, not now.’ He stopped abruptly and whipped around to face Remus. ‘How aren’t you mad? He’s trying to get you fired, and you know it.’

‘He spent years trying to get me expelled, and he never succeeded,’ Remus reasoned. ‘Can we please drop it for the time being? We’ll deal with Snape in the morning. Now I want to share this mug of hot chocolate and cuddle. No heavy topics.’

Sirius looked like he wanted to argue, but then thought better of it. He sighed, then grabbed the mug of hot chocolate from Remus’ desk and brought it over to their bed. Remus had already crawled on it and sat down with his back against the headboard. He took the mug from Sirius and took a sip as he waited for Sirius to settle between his legs.

‘I thought that hot chocolate was for me,’ Sirius pouted, leaning on Remus’ chest. ‘You already had a mug.’

‘Hm, no, it’s for me, but I’m feeling generous and I’ll share.’

Sirius snorted, shifting around to face Remus, who grinned at him. Sirius’ eyes lit up with mischief before he leaned in and licked off Remus’ hot chocolate moustache.

‘Fine, let’s share it,’ Sirius conceded, smirking at Remus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone's interested about who the constellations/mugs belonged to:  
> Pyxis – Lily, Leo – James, Lepus – Peter, Lupus – originally Remus but then Sirius, Canis Major – originally Sirius but then Remus, Monoceros and Pegasus – Dorcas and Marlene, Columba and Cygnus – Alice and Frank
> 
> Also, I keep forgetting to add this, but a huge hug (or whatever form of affection you prefer) to everyone who comments, I love to read your thoughts on the story!


	12. Chapter Twelve of Remus Lupin dealing with the aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just 4k words of slice-of-life.  
> Also, a heads-up that after Saturday I'll have to switch to weekly updates because the semester starts next week and I'll be busy with my classes and my thesis. I'll try to post a new chapter every Wednesday CET (not that I ever manage, even now it's already 2am on Thursday, but whatever).

Remus’ – and Pads’ – Saturday started in the headmaster’s office. Remus was cranky because he had slept in after last night’s kitchen raid and hadn’t yet had time for his morning tea. Dumbledore’s carelessness didn’t help his mood either.

‘I’m sure he didn’t mean any harm,’ Dumbledore said. And, ‘He did brew you the Wolfsbane potion, correct, my dear Remus?’ Remus didn’t bother telling him the two weren’t related in the slightest and he left the office before Pads could have done anything idiotic. Like sink his sharp teeth in Dumbledore’s throat until the old man’s windpipe was broken beyond repair.

He walked down to the Great Hall, hoping to catch Minerva still at the breakfast table. Dumbledore hadn’t known how many classes Snape had covered on Thursday and on Friday, saying it was the deputy headmistress’ job to keep track.

Stepping through the Great Hall’s large doors, Remus scanned the staff table, and to his relief saw Minerva sitting there, chatting with Filius and Pomona. He walked up to them and took a seat next to Minerva, Pads settling down on the floor under Remus’ chair.

‘Good morning,’ he greeted his fellow professors and piled some food on his plate. They nodded in response, not stopping their conversation. Remus listened as he ate and caught that they were talking about Quidditch. Practice was supposed to start the next week, and the three Heads of House seemed to be worried about letting the teams out on the pitch in the evenings with the Dementors lurking at the edges of the school grounds.

‘Surely they would stay at their posts,’ Pomona said now, but Remus could tell not even she believed her own words.

‘I could put up some wards that will only let the players on the pitch,’ Filius offered.

‘But what about the changing rooms and the walk from and to the castle?’ Minerva objected. ‘The only somewhat safe option would be if one of us sat in on the practices, and I know I don’t have the time.’ She took a sip from her goblet, staring sternly at the table.

‘I could oversee the Ravenclaw trainings,’ Filius shrugged. ‘It really doesn’t make a difference where I spend my evenings, I can do my grading on the stands.’

‘I would offer to oversee the Hufflepuffs, but I’m afraid my Patronus Charm is rather lacking,’ Pomona smiled sadly. ‘Though I think Severus would agree to attend the Slytherin trainings, and he can cast a proper Patronus if anything happens.’

‘That’s still only half of the teams,’ Minerva pointed out, shaking her head.

‘I could take the Gryffindors, if it’s okay with you,’ Remus piped up. ‘And if I remember correctly, Rolanda has a strong Patronus. I don’t think she would mind overseeing the Hufflepuff practices, and if she does, I’m happy to cover them.’

Minerva sighed. ‘Are you sure? Won’t it be too much on top of everything else?’

‘Minerva, as Filius said, it doesn’t make a difference if I do my grading and write my notes in my office or on the Quidditch stands,’ he chuckled, but Minerva didn’t look convinced.

‘I understand that,’ she started, ‘but should you really take on extra work?’ Remus almost snorted, thinking of all the extra he was already doing, but remained silent. ‘Thinking of it, shouldn’t you be resting right now?’ she asked, giving Remus a calculating look.

This time, Remus didn’t stop his reaction and rolled his eyes. ‘The full was Thursday night, I’m completely fine now. Or, well, there _is_ something bothering me,’ he conceded, ‘though it has nothing to do with the full but the lessons I couldn’t teach.’

Minerva frowned. ‘They were all covered; what is bothering you?’

‘You see, I had an interesting chat with Ginny Weasley last night, and she told me Severus hadn’t only skipped two years’ worth of material to talk about werewolves, he’d also given them homework on the topic of recognizing werewolves. Two rolls of parchment.’

Minerva and Pomona both drew in a sharp breath, and Filius fisted his small hands to stop their shaking. None of them managed to conceal their anger.

‘I imagine you’ve already told Albus and he’ll deal with it?’ Minerva inquired.

‘He said he’d talk with Severus about consulting with me first, but he didn’t see any issues with his behaviour. He even had the audacity to insinuate that I was being paranoid, because Severus brewed my potion, surely he wouldn’t do anything to sabotage me.’ Remus’ voice was dripping with sarcasm, and Pads let out a loud huff.

Minerva groaned and dropped her face in her hands. She took a deep breath, calming herself. ‘What in Merlin’s name is Albus thinking,’ she mumbled into her palms, then straightened up. ‘I’ll have a word with Albus, this is unacceptable. He refuses to see how Severus is behaving with the students, and now he’s trying to do the same to a colleague.’

Remus didn’t answer, but he wasn’t really surprised at Dumbledore’s act. He either thought Severus would be more useful to him in the future than Remus, or that Remus would put up with more injustice than Severus, as he was used to it already. Except he had lost Remus when Lily and James had died, and Dumbledore had flat-out told Remus to give up on Sirius.

‘At least it was only one class, right?’ Pomona asked, looking at the bright side.

Remus shrugged. ‘I don’t know, Albus couldn’t tell.’

At the same time, Minerva blanched. ‘Severus insisted to cover all three of your afternoon classes on Thursday, and then third period on Friday,’ she told Remus, and he stifled a groan. ‘Don’t worry, I won’t let him substitute ever again; I’ll even ask Rolanda if I have to.’

‘Great. I guess I’d better get going and tell everyone not to do their homework.’ He drank some pumpkin juice, then stood up. ‘Minerva, please let me know when the Gryffindors train and I’ll keep an eye on them.’ She nodded, and he bode them goodbye.

Remus decided to start with the Ravenclaws as they were the most likely to have already started on their essay. He was right: they were sitting in a circle on the floor of their common room, books scattered around them, and they were chatting about werewolves and comparing notes. When Remus told them not to bother with the essay, some of them pouted, and Remus had to reassure them that they would cover the topic at the end of the year, as they should.

Next, Pads and he walked up to Gryffindor Tower. Remus told the Fat Lady the password he had heard from Ginny a few hours ago and they climbed through the portrait hole. The common room was buzzing, as most of the Gryffindors had just gotten back from breakfast and were playing chess or chatting instead of doing their homework. When they saw Remus and Pads, the noise died down, and Remus received a lot of curious glances.

‘Good morning,’ he greeted them. Pads’ tongue lolled out, and he trotted over to one of the more secluded tables that Ginny Weasley was sitting at. ‘Could I please talk to the second, third, and fourth years? It’s about your homework.’

They shared confused glances but gathered around Remus. Pads steered Ginny to stand close to Harry, and the boy gave Pads’ head a pat.

‘Thank you. I heard Professor Snape had told you to write two rolls of parchment on werewolves.’ At that, everyone started muttering that Snape was unfair and they hadn’t even covered the topic, and a general chaos ensued. Remus cleared his throat to get their attention. ‘Don’t worry, I’m here to tell you that you don’t have to write the essay. The third years will cover the topic at the end of the year, otherwise just forget about it.’

Everyone erupted in cheers, except for Hermione, who frowned and muttered, ‘But I’ve already finished it!’ Some of the students gave her a strange look, and Remus had to stifle a laugh.

‘We will cover the topic eventually,’ Remus told her with a reassuring smile, but she was distracted by Ron, who started shouting at her.

‘No, stupid cat! Hermione, do something! Your cat is doing it again!’

‘Maybe keep Scabbers in your dorm, Merlin knows he should rest, but you keep dragging him everywhere,’ she lectured, but caught the cat and walked back to Remus. ‘Sorry, Professor, Ron is an idiot. He can’t understand that Crookshanks is a cat, and cats hunt rats.’

‘It is my brother you’re talking about. What do you expect?’ Ginny snorted, and Hermione gave her a shrug that probably meant ‘ _what can you do?_ ’

The crowd had dispersed, only Ginny and Harry were still standing there, petting Pads, and Hermione was on Harry’s other side, babying her cat, but Remus didn’t notice any of it. His eyes were strained on Ron and his pet rat, and a side-glance told him Pads had also noticed. So it was Ron who had the rat, and he apparently carried it with him. Well, that may make things more difficult. Or easier, Remus couldn’t tell yet.

Remus turned back to his students. ‘Well, we should get going, I still have to tell the Hufflepuffs and the Slytherins to not bother with homework, and then talk to Professor Snape. Come on, Pads, let’s go. Ginny, I will see you after lunch?’

‘Yes, sir,’ Ginny smiled, ignoring the curious looks Harry and Hermione gave her. She petted Pads one last time, and so did Harry, then Pads followed Remus out of the common room.

They had barely walked down a flight of stairs when Remus heard Harry calling his name. They stopped and waited for the boy to reach them.

Harry stood in front of them, breathing hard, and tried to catch his breath. ‘Professor Lupin, sorry, just, Ginny said you were giving her extra lessons, and I was wondering if you could also teach me those spells? And, maybe, what you did on the train?’

Remus contemplated it for a moment, but then nodded. ‘I think it’d be okay. Let me know when your Quidditch practices are and we’ll find a time.’

‘Thank you, sir!’ Harry almost shouted, then winced at his own voice. Remus chuckled and waved at him, then resumed his walk to the dungeons. 

He decided to start with Snape, to get that conversation out of the way, though it went about as well as one could have expected. Snape kept insisting that Remus was paranoid and that he was just concerned about the education of his students, though he did it with an obvious sneer and he was doing his best to physically look down upon Remus – which didn’t work at all as Remus was standing up to his full height for once instead of hunching down his shoulders, and thus stood several inches taller than the Potions Master. In the end Snape snapped, ‘Fine, Lupin, I understand what you say, now get out of my office and take that fleaball with you.’

Pads, who had been growling at Snape the whole time, showed his teeth and made an attempt to bite him in the leg, but Remus was prepared and stopped him before he could reach Snape. ‘I think you should show some respect towards animals, and then maybe your students will learn it as well and won’t get injured for offending Hippogriffs,’ Remus mildly remarked, then, with a hand in Pads’ fur, led the dog out of Snape’s office.

Next he talked with the Slytherins, none of whom had already started on the essay, and even though they seemed relieved that they didn’t have to write the two rolls, they still questioned Remus why he was cancelling their homework. Remus knew they only did it because it was their Head of House that had given them the homework, so he just told them to re-read the chapter on the Red Cappas because they would talk about them a bit more on Tuesday.

As Remus exited the Slytherin common room, he could hear Draco Malfoy making remarks about him, and sank his fingers into Pads’ fur, holding on tight so Pads wouldn’t go back and wound the boy, adding to the gash on his forearm from his meeting with Buckbeak.

The Hufflepuffs were at least nice when Remus and Pads entered their common room after tapping the right barrel, and they indignantly told Remus that they had collectively agreed not to write the essay because ‘ _Snape didn’t have the right, and he was extremely rude to both us and to the Gryffindors_.’ Remus chuckled at that and watched as Pads walked over to the younger students, who immediately threw themselves at him and petted him all over. Remus knew his absolute favourites were Ginny and Harry, but the Hufflepuffs were a close second, and Pads took advantage of any opportunity to have them pet him.

After a few minutes of chatting with his students ( _‘Why thank you, I feel much better’_ ), Remus patted his thigh a few times to get Pads’ attention, who padded over to him while the Hufflepuffs oohed and aahed, because, ‘ _He’s such a nice and clever dog, Professor!_ ’ Remus nodded at them, smiling, and Pads looked really proud of himself.

They walked to the kitchens where Remus asked Flappy to bring up three mugs of hot chocolate to his room after dinner – specifically asking for the mugs with Canis Major, Lupus, and Pyxis on them –, then they returned to their room. They still had about an hour until lunch, and Remus wanted to finally drink his morning tea.

Back in their room, Remus filled the kettle with water and tapped it with his wand to make it boil. Sirius was watching him from where he was lying on the bed, his face twisted in a sour expression. ‘The moment my name is cleared, I’ll bribe the school board to fire Snivellus,’ he muttered. ‘Or threaten them. Hey, make me some tea?’

‘What blend?’ Remus asked, not looking up from where he was filling a tea infuser with spiced Pai Mu Tan. He also decided to ignore the first part of what Sirius had said.

‘Whatever you’re having, you’re the expert.’

‘Are you sure? I don’t think you’ve ever drunk white tea.’ Remus fished out the other infuser from one of the drawers, hesitating a bit before filling it.

‘There’s a first time for everything,’ Sirius shrugged. ‘And you keep going on about how good that thing is. I’m curious.’

‘Well then, suit yourself.’ Remus put the infusers in their respective mugs, then poured the boiling water over them and set them aside to steep. He set the timer for three minutes, then walked over to the bed and plopped down next to Sirius.

Sirius immediately shifted to rest his head on Remus’ chest and threw an arm around his waist. ‘I can’t decide who I want to shout at first, once my name has been cleared. I mean, there’s Snivellus, because obviously, but there’s also Dumbledore, and Fudge, and Crouch, and Lily’s sister-’

‘Try not to get yourself arrested, will you? And don’t antagonize Dumbledore. Yes, I know that he’s a manipulative bastard, but he’s useful for now, and I rather like this job. Also, he’ll probably expect it from you, so I think you should leave it to me.’

Sirius shot up at that, staring incredulously at Remus, then started laughing hysterically. ‘Godric’s balls, are you saying that you, Remus goodie-two-shoes Lupin, want to give Dumbledore a good wigging? Now I really need to see that.’

‘Well, he did tell me to give up on you because _the evidence was too solid_ ,’ Remus said with an eyeroll, then stood up as the timer went off. He put the infusers on a plate he had for this very purpose and passed one of the mugs to Sirius. They settled down in the armchairs in front of the fireplace, and Sirius flicked his wand to start a fire.

They sat there for a while, lost in thoughts, and waiting for the tea to cool a bit. It was rather dark even though it was the middle of the day, but rainclouds had been gathering for the past few days and the whole castle was dim in spite of the torches and fires.

‘This tea is good,’ Sirius admitted after a few sips. Remus smiled at him. ‘Hey, so, please don’t hex me for saying this, but I agree with Minnie. You’re trying to take on too much.’

Remus rolled his eyes. ‘Please don’t, not you too.’

‘Remus, I’m just saying-’

‘And I’m saying it’s not too much,’ Remus interrupted stubbornly.

Sirius sighed, defeated. ‘But the moment it becomes too much, promise me you’ll tell me.’

Remus’ eyes softened. ‘I will.’ He took a sip. ‘The same goes for you, too, okay?’

‘Hm? What do you mean?’

‘The only thing I do that you don’t, is teaching. And you’re also working on the map.’

‘I’m not a werewolf.’

‘No, but you spent almost twelve years in Azkaban.’

Sirius groaned and almost sloshed his tea on himself when his head hit the back of his armchair with a loud _thud_. ‘Do we have to go there?’

‘Eventually, yes.’ Sirius gave Remus a stern look, but Remus went on, ‘You know Dumbledore will play the ‘you’re not fit to take in a child’ card when we’ll try to take custody of Harry, and there’s no way I’ll let him have his way this time.’

Sirius drew in a loud breath but didn’t oppose Remus. ‘Do you think that’s why he agreed to hosting the Dementors? Because let’s be real, if Dumbledore hadn’t given permission, they wouldn’t be here, no matter what Fudge wants.’

‘I’m not completely sure why Dumbledore let them into the school, but I wouldn’t put it past him that he did it to use them against you. We already know he doesn’t care about endangering the students, and if having them here means he can keep telling himself that he couldn’t have done anything, he will risk losing a few students to the Dementors, just to keep you away from Harry.’

‘I never would have thought that I’d ever hear you speak so sourly about Dumbledore.’

‘In the years after the war, I re-evaluated some of my views. And my psychologist helped me see what Dumbledore had really done to us.’

Sirius’ eyebrows drew together. ‘Psychologist? What’s that?’

‘It’s like a Muggle mind healer. I went to one once a week for a few years, and she made me talk about everything.’ He chuckled. ‘Of course, it’s not easy to keep things Muggle-friendly, and I’m sure I slipped up a couple times, but it helped a lot.’

‘Frankly, it sounds terrifying. Why would you talk about your troubles to someone who doesn’t even know you?’ Sirius clutched his mug tighter, suppressing a shiver.

‘That’s exactly why you’d tell them. It’s their job and they won’t judge you, and whatever you say, they definitely will have heard worse before. It doesn’t matter what they think about you because you won’t see them outside of your meetings anyway.’

‘You’re telling me all this because you want me to go to one, right?’

‘I think it wouldn’t hurt, but I won’t force you to do anything. You need to want it for it to work, and even then, it takes a long time.’ Remus shrugged, crossing his ankles.

‘Right. Let’s talk about it again after we caught the rat,’ Sirius pleaded, and Remus gave him a proud smile because Sirius hadn’t refused the idea without even considering it first. ‘Do you think Harry will want to live with us?’ Sirius asked suddenly, turning bodily towards Remus.

‘Why wouldn’t he? You’re his godfather.’ Remus gave Sirius an odd look.

‘But I don’t even know where we would live. I’m not going back to Grimmauld, and I have no idea what state Uncle Alphard’s mansion is in. It could have collapsed for all I know.’

‘You know we will have to deal with your parents’ house at some point, right? And I want to look through the library, we may find there some interesting books.’

‘Or we may get hexed,’ Sirius muttered darkly.

‘Also, I still have my Ma’s house in Wales, we could go there. It probably needs some new furniture to fit all of us, but it is properly warded and in the middle of nowhere.’

‘I’ve always loved that place,’ Sirius hummed. ‘We could check the mansion for furniture, move anything that we like, and then just sell the rest.’

‘You want to sell Alphard’s mansion?’

‘Maybe, I don’t know.’ Sirius stared into the fire for a moment. ‘I’ve only been there a couple of times, but I can remember it’s huge, definitely too much for the three of us. Though maybe we could keep it for full moons, it’s even more secluded than your Ma’s cottage,’ he mused.

‘We’ll figure it out,’ Remus promised. ‘We have until summer, after all.’

‘Yeah, yeah. We could check out the mansion during Christmas break?’

‘December’s full is on the twenty-ninth, and I’ll have to be around to get my potion from Snape. Also, if you buy Harry that broom, I’ll need to convince people that it’s not a trap or something,’ he reminded Sirius, who grinned behind his mug.

‘Does that mean we’ll buy the Firebolt?’

‘We both know you’ll do what you want to do, and I can merely minimize the damage,’ Remus sighed, pretending to be exasperated. ‘Though I still think it’s pointless.’

‘It’s not! A Firebolt is much better than a Nimbus2000.’

‘You don’t even like Quidditch.’

‘But my godson does, and he’s a fucking great Seeker.’ Sirius threw both his hands in the air, forgetting his mug wasn’t empty, and spilled some lukewarm tea on his head. ‘Oh, for Godric’s sake,’ he muttered, shaking his head to get the tea off his eyelashes, while Remus was loudly laughing at him. ‘It’s not funny,’ Sirius grumbled.

‘It is,’ Remus managed to get out between two fits of laughter.

Sirius shot him an annoyed look but put down his mug and used a drying charm on his face and hair, then drank the remainder of his tea. He settled back into his armchair in the twisted way he had been sitting, his right shoulder leaning into the back of the armchair, his knees drawn up to his chest, and his toes digging into the armrest closest to Remus. He watched Remus laugh and he couldn’t resist the small smile that was creeping on his face. He had always loved making Remus laugh, even if it was at his own expense.

Remus took a few minutes to calm down, but eventually he managed to stop laughing (to Sirius’ great sorrow). He checked his watch and sighed. ‘We should probably go to lunch.’

‘I just got comfortable,’ Sirius complained, but he climbed out of his armchair while Remus charmed the mugs clean.

‘I have no idea how that was comfortable,’ Remus remarked, and Sirius rolled his eyes. ‘Though maybe I’m just too tall and that’s why I can’t fold myself up like you,’ he teased.

‘Hey!’ Sirius yelled indignantly. ‘I know you’re taller than me, no need to rub it in.’

‘I’m just saying,’ Remus started, stepping close to Sirius, ‘that the positions you find comfortable,’ he wrapped his arms around Sirius, ‘might not work for me,’ he rested his chin on Sirius’ head, ‘because I’m too tall.’

Sirius’ arms sneaked around Remus’ waist and he sagged against Remus. ‘You’re mean.’

Remus snickered. ‘How in Merlin’s name is that mean?’ Sirius just growled into his chest. ‘Now, come on, lunch. Ginny will be here soon.’ He kissed the top of Sirius’ head, then let him go. Sirius changed into his Animagus form and followed Remus out of their room.


	13. Chapter Thirteen of Remus Lupin teaching his nephew

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Last update on a weekend, from now on I'll only post new chapters on Wednesdays.  
> We've finally got some real interaction between Remus and Harry, even though I was supposed to have covered Halloween by now (but what are plans for if not to upset?)  
> Anyway, enjoy :*

Quidditch practice started up on Monday, and Remus was told (first by Minerva at breakfast, then by Harry after his DADA class) that the Gryffindor team would train after dinner on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Remus let Minerva tell the team captain that he would wait for them in the Entrance Hall at six.

Sirius insisted to accompany him because he didn’t want to leave Remus alone, and he also wanted to see Harry. (After the first training, he wouldn’t shut up about how amazing a Seeker his godson was until Remus threatened to hex him. Sirius was now ever more convinced that Harry needed a Firebolt.)

Pads stopped attending the Ravenclaws and Slytherins’ classes as well as the NEWT-level classes and was instead working on the map and combing through the Room of Hidden Things. On Wednesday, one of the second year Ravenclaws, Luna Lovegood, told Remus it was a pity Pads hadn’t come to class in that unique way of hers, and Remus promised to bring him every now and then.

The Weasley twins were also getting more serious with their pranks. This week, they charmed Remus’ hair pink, and, when Remus shot a countercharm at it, it just changed to another vibrant colour. Remus spent the first half of the lesson randomly casting countercharms on his hair to the amusement of his students, and once he found one that worked, he cast a non-verbal spell to turn the twins’ hair to look like a rainbow.

They’d been doing this since that first spider web prank the twins had pulled: the twins pranked Remus, Remus found a countercharm, put a spin on the original spell so the twins wouldn’t know the countercharm, then, at the end of the lesson, Remus always told them when and where they had learnt what they needed to put together a countercharm. So far, they had always figured it out before dinner.

Which is why Remus was surprised to see the twins still sporting rainbow hair when they arrived for Quidditch practice. He raised an eyebrow.

‘Oh, we found the countercharm-’ George started.

‘-but we think it looks rad-’ Fred continued.

‘-so we changed it back,’ they said in unison, grinning madly at each other. The other team members looked at them with exasperation.

‘Come on, let’s get going,’ Remus beckoned them and started walking towards the door. It was probably a mistake, he thought, as he heard Angelina shout at the twins. He whipped around to the twins grinning at him, and the others looking sheepish, except for Oliver, who had a murderous expression on his face. ‘Okay, what did they do this time?’

‘Um, your hair and eyebrows turned red,’ Harry said, then corrected, ‘no, sorry, it’s yellow now- and it’s turned green. Uh, it keeps changing.’

To most of their astonishment, Remus laughed. ‘Okay, I’m impressed you two figured out how to make the colours keep changing.’

‘We wanted to tie the colours to your mood-’

‘-but we couldn’t figure out the spell in an hour.’

‘I’d have been surprised if you had,’ Remus chuckled. ‘Check out the fourth year’s Potions book, you’ll find some help in it.’

‘Potions! Of course!’

‘Why didn’t we think about it?’

The twins threw their arms around each other’s shoulders and started plotting Merlin knows what while the others looked incredibly lost.

‘Alright, let’s go, you’ll have all the time to plan your next prank after training,’ Remus reminded them, and followed the team out to the pitch.

He didn’t bother with a counterspell because he was curious to see how long it would take for the charm to wear off. He was only slightly surprised when he woke up to his hair still changing colours, even if they weren’t as vibrant now as they had been the day before.

‘They’re getting better,’ Sirius mumbled, carding his fingers through Remus’ hair. ‘We should probably not drink anything in the Great Hall for the next few days.’

‘Really? I think it’d be fun,’ Remus mused. ‘I hope they spike everyone’s drinks; I can’t wait to see Snape with- what was the colour that meant disgust? Moss green?’ They laughed and settled down in the armchairs for Remus’ morning tea.

That evening, Remus and Pads walked back to their room, still laughing at Snape’s expression when the Potions Master had realized the twins had spiked the staff table’s pumpkin juice. As Remus had predicted, Snape was now walking around with moss green hair and looked more murderous than usual. Sure, Remus had also fallen victim to the prank, but he had been walking around with colourful hair for the last day anyway, and it really didn’t make a difference whether his hair changed between the colours of the rainbow or following his mood shifts. His only regret was that he hadn’t managed to trick Pads into drinking some pumpkin juice, and his fur remained its usual inky black.

They entered the room, and Remus had barely filled the kettle and whispered the boiling spell when there was a knock on the door. He opened it to reveal a nervous-looking Harry.

‘Hello, Professor, am I too early?’

‘No, no, come in,’ Remus said, opening the door wider. ‘I was just making tea if you want some? Or I can ask the house-elves to send up a mug of hot chocolate,’ he offered, closing the door and pointing Harry towards the armchairs.

‘I don’t think I’ve ever tried hot chocolate,’ Harry admitted, and Remus gaped at him.

‘We’ll have to fix that. Flappy,’ he called, and the house-elf appeared with a loud pop. ‘Can you please send up two mugs of hot chocolate? Let’s say, Canis Major and Leo.’

‘Yes, Professor Lupin, sir,’ the house-elf confirmed with a bow, then disappeared.

Harry had a surprised expression on his face, and Remus asked with a chuckle, ‘Have you never seen a house-elf before?

‘I have, I just didn’t know they were here, at Hogwarts.’ He sat down in one of the armchairs, and Remus settled in the other. ‘Though I can’t say my first meeting with one went well.’

Remus raised an eyebrow, then noticed the suspicious lack of a black mutt and looked around. He spotted Pads under his desk, doing only Godric knows what.

‘It was last summer,’ Harry went on, ‘and he tried to keep me away from Hogwarts. Stole my letters, got me into trouble with the Ministry, then closed the gate to Platform Nine and Three Quarters. Ron and I arrived in a flying car, but he couldn’t park it and we crashed into the Willow,’ he recounted, and Remus let out a surprised laugh.

‘Merlin, that sounds just like-’ he started, but then thought better of it.

‘Like what?’ Great, Harry had taken note. Remus sighed.

‘That sounds like something your father would have done.’

‘You knew my father?’ Harry asked, astonished. He almost jumped up from his seat.

‘We shared a dorm,’ Remus shrugged, but he knew Harry wouldn’t let him off the hook now.

‘Nobody ever talks to me about him, or my mum,’ the boy mumbled, and Remus frowned.

‘What do you mean? Surely your aunt and uncle told you about them?’

‘All they ever said was that my parents had died in a car accident. They hate it when I ask them questions.’ He pulled up his knees to his chest and laid his head on them.

Remus let out a loud sigh. ‘I could tell you about them if you wanted,’ he offered. Harry nodded enthusiastically. Before Remus could continue, though, there was a loud pop and Flappy put down a tray with two mugs on the side table. ‘Thank you, Flappy,’ Remus said, then levitated the table between the armchairs. He pushed the mug with Leo closer to Harry and picked up his own. ‘That mug used to belong to your father.’

‘Really?’ He drew the mug closer and watched it with a scrutinizing gaze. ‘Why Leo?’

‘For Gryffindor. We used to spend a lot of time in the kitchens, and we would always mix up the mugs, and so one of our friends came up with the idea to charm constellations on them. First, it was just the four of us – Leo for James, Lepus for Pete, and Lupus and Canis Major for me and-’ Remus trailed off, exhaling loudly. ‘And your godfather. Then, as our other friends came along, we added more. The last was Pyxis for your mother. Your father didn’t let her choose, insisting that, as the only responsible person in our group, the Mariner’s Compass was perfect for her.’ Remus smiled at the memory.

‘You seem pretty responsible to me,’ Harry mumbled.

Remus barked out a laugh. ‘Oh, no, I wasn’t. They made me Prefect hoping that I’d be able to keep your father and godfather in check, but I don’t think Dumbledore ever realized a lot of the pranks actually came from me. I mean, I let Fred and George prank me every week and then I use a similar spell on them, putting a twist on it so they’d have to make an effort to find the counterspell. Don’t tell Minerva,’ he added belatedly. ‘She still thinks my friends roped me into trouble, but truth is, I found trouble on my own just fine, I just always knew how to not get caught. And when I did, your godfather usually took the blame.’

‘I didn’t know I had a godfather. He’s dead, isn’t he? That’s why I live with the Dursleys.’

Before Remus could answer, Pads trotted over, and Remus only had a split second to realize what he was doing before he dropped a framed photograph on Harry’s lap. Remus grumbled, frowning, ‘Stupid dog,’ but didn’t try to take it from Harry.

It was a wizarding photograph, the people in it were moving around and laughing at each other. Remus saw the moment Harry recognized what it was. ‘These are my parents,’ he whispered, pointing at the couple in the middle.

‘Yes,’ Remus confirmed. ‘This picture was taken at their wedding.’

‘Who are all these people?’ Harry pointed at the boys and girls surrounding his parents. None of them looked older than twenty. They were probably even younger.

‘The girls were Lily’s close friends. Marlene McKinnon, Dorcas Meadows, and Mary MacDonald. None of them survived the war.’ Pads laid his head on Remus’ lap, and Remus started stroking his fur. ‘I think you can recognize me,’ he joked, and Harry’s eyes widened.

‘Oh my God, that _is_ you!’ Harry let out a quiet laugh. Nineteen-year-old Remus in the picture was wearing dress robes, and his hair was falling in his eyes in slight curls. He was grinning at the photographer, and he had his arms around the two boys next to him.

‘Yes. Pete is on my right, and that long-haired boy between your father and me is your godfather.’ Remus watched Harry closely, trying to decide how much to say about Sirius.

‘They also died in the war?’

Pads nudged Remus, and Remus understood what he tried to tell him. He raised an eyebrow in question, and Pads nodded. Remus sighed. ‘No, they didn’t. But they haven’t been around.’

Harry looked up at him, and Remus saw his eyes were suspiciously shiny. ‘Why?’

‘Your godfather was supposed to take you in, that was your parents’ wish, but he was set up. He was imprisoned for a crime he hadn’t committed.’

Harry seemingly didn’t know what to say to that, and Remus decided it was enough for a night. He was also afraid he’d say something a little bit too harsh about Dumbledore and lose Harry’s trust. No, he had to wait.

‘It’s a rather long story,’ Remus ended up saying. ‘I’ll tell you, but not now. You’ve come to learn, after all.’ Remus gave him a tight smile, then motioned at the mug still on the table. ‘Won’t you try it?’ He watched Harry lift the mug to his mouth and take a small sip.

‘Hm, it’s good, but has gone a little cold.’

Remus muttered a heating spell. ‘Better?’ Harry nodded. ‘Well, to not finish this conversation on such a depressing note, I think I should tell you that your godfather also liked to fly Muggle vehicles that had no business flying, though in his case, it was his motorbike that he enchanted. He hated brooms but would fly that death-trap everywhere.’

Harry giggled, then he went quiet, recalling a memory. ‘I think I remember that. Or, well, I dreamt of a flying motorbike a few times.’ He took a large gulp of hot chocolate. ‘This is amazing, by the way,’ he told Remus, grinning.

‘Just ask the house-elves for some, whenever you want.’

‘Um, but how can I find them?’

‘You can just call for them. I’d recommend Flappy, he’s always the first to greet Pads and me when we go to the kitchens.’ Remus patted Pads’ head, then let him pad over to Harry. ‘Now, let’s talk about what it is you want to learn.’

Harry licked the corners of his mouth to clean the hot chocolate off. ‘Well, Ginny said you teach her different revealing spells? And I also want to learn to do what you did on the train to the Dementor. I don’t want to pass out the next time I meet one.’

Remus hummed, contemplating. ‘Alright. There are many different revealing spells; what kind are you interested in?’

Harry put down his empty mug. ‘Anything that can help if Voldemort tries to come after me again. In first year, he lived in the back of the head of Quirrell, the DADA teacher, then last year, there was Riddle’s diary. Who knows what he’ll try next.’

‘I have several cursed objects that we can start working with next time.’ Remus nodded. ‘Tonight, we should probably just talk.’

Harry looked disappointed. ‘But I want to learn.’

‘Don’t worry, you will. I just don’t think you know much about Patronuses, and I also want to give you some homework on the topic.’ Harry still didn’t look satisfied. ‘Which one of us is the teacher here?’ Remus asked in an amused tone, and Harry cast down his eyes.

‘You are, sorry.’

‘Don’t fret it. Now, how much do you know about Dementors?’

Harry thought of it for a moment. ‘They guard Azkaban. I remember the air went freezing when they boarded the train.’ He paused for a moment, then mumbled, ‘I saw a green flash and I think I heard my mum’s scream.’

Remus sighed, and Pads nudged Harry’s hand. ‘The Dementors feed on happiness and bring their victim’s worst memories to the surface. You may not consciously remember that day as you were only one year old, but the memory is still there, buried deep. The worse your worst memories are, the worse they affect you,’ he added, answering Harry’s unsaid question.

‘Is that why I passed out? Because I witnessed my parents’ murder?’

‘I’d think so. Though I’m not an expert on Dementors, I’ve just met them once or twice.’

‘And you made it back off, on the train. How?’ Harry looked eagerly at Remus.

‘It’s called a Patronus Charm, though you have to understand that it’s quite advanced, well beyond OWL-level. Many people have difficulties with it. Not even every professor in this school can cast it,’ Remus warned.

‘But you can.’

‘Yes, I can. To tell you the truth, what you saw on the train wasn’t a proper Patronus, though.’

‘It still made the Dementor back off,’ Harry insisted.

‘Yes, it did. But that’s not why I’m telling you this. There are three things that can happen when you cast the Patronus Charm.’ Remus lifted his hand and started ticking them off on his fingers,’ One, you fail. Two, you succeed, but it’s not a proper Patronus, just a mist, like you saw on the train. Three, you succeed and your Patronus takes a solid form.’

Harry nodded in understanding. ‘And how do you cast one? I don’t think I heard the spell.’

‘It doesn’t start with the spell,’ Remus said. ‘Dementors feed on happiness, and the charm uses it against them. For a Dementor to suck any positive feelings out of you, you need to have a soul. The Patronus Charm takes the happy feelings and turns them into a shield, something without a soul, therefore Dementors cannot feed on it.’

‘So you need to think about something happy? But how do you do that when Dementors are sucking all the happiness out of you?’ Harry asked, and Remus gave him a proud smile.

‘That’s an important question, and you just found the reason why many people have difficulties with this charm. You need to practice it a lot and cast the charm as soon as you feel Dementors approaching because the more there are, the stronger they become.’ Remus pulled out his wand. ‘The first step, as you said, is thinking of a happy memory. Then, focusing on than memory, you cast the spell, like this. _Expecto Patronum!_ ’

White mist shot out of Remus’ wand, but he didn’t let it take form. Harry watched with wide, unblinking eyes.

‘This is called a non-corporeal Patronus, one that has no solid form. There are two ways how it can happen: Either the person casting the charm cannot conjure up a corporeal Patronus, or they choose not to.’ Remus let that sink in and waited for Harry’s question.

He didn’t disappoint. ‘Which one is it with you?’

Remus chuckled, then cast the charm again, this time letting it take its usual form as a large dog. Harry stared in awe. ‘Now, this is called a corporeal Patronus. As you can see, it isn’t blurry at all, unlike a non-corporeal Patronus. It’s also much stronger.’ They watched as Remus’ Patronus jumped around the room, then came to a halt next to Pads, and lay down on his back.

Harry let out a quiet laugh. ‘It looks a lot like Pads,’ he observed, and Remus just shrugged. ‘Did my parents have a corporeal Patronus?’ he asked suddenly.

Remus smiled. ‘They did. James’ was a stag, and Lily’s was a doe.’ After a moment of consideration, he added, ‘Your godfather’s used to be a wolf.’

‘Is that why he chose Lupus? For his mug?’

Remus couldn’t stop the laughter bursting out of him, and for a second, he wanted to correct the timeline, but then decided it didn’t matter. ‘You could say that, yes.’

‘It’s really cool. I mean, you said it was a difficult spell, yet you all mastered it,’ he clarified.

‘Well, Patronuses – apart from being the primary protection against Dementors and Lethifolds, that is – can also be used to send messages, and we may have used them for this purpose back in seventh year, and then after graduation. Though it only works with corporeal Patronuses,’ Remus told Harry, thinking back to all the times he and Sirius had used their Patronuses to debate what to get for dinner, or when to visit James and Lily. ‘But on the plus side, Patronuses tell their message only to the person it was meant for, and therefore it’s a safer way of communication than owls or the Floo network.’

‘I can’t wait to see what shape my Patronus will take,’ Harry said giddily, though Remus was quick to remind him he may not be able to cast a corporeal one. ‘But both my parents could!’

‘Yes, but they were seventeen when they learnt the charm. You’re only thirteen. I don’t doubt you’d easily master this spell, were you seventeen, but as it is, I don’t want to get your hopes up in case it proves to be too much.’ Pads huffed at Remus, but he ignored it.

‘I still want to try it,’ Harry said defiantly, and Remus shook his head at his stubbornness.

‘And you will. Just don’t be disappointed if it takes time.’ Remus stood up and waved his hand, his Patronus dissolving at the motion. Pads jumped up and chased after the mist it leaved behind. ‘What do you want to start with next week? Revealing spells or the Patronus Charm?’ he asked Harry, who also stood up.

‘Can’t it be both?’ He looked at Remus hopefully, stoking Pads’ back absentmindedly.

Remus laughed. ‘Aren’t you a bit greedy?’ He crouched down and scratched behind Pads’ ear. ‘It would probably be easier if you focused on either or, but yes, we can cover both.’

‘Great!’ Harry grinned up at him. ‘How will we substitute the Dementors, though?’

‘We won’t, not yet.’ Remus shook his head. ‘You’ll practise until you can confidently cast a non-corporeal Patronus, then I’ll look for a Boggart, and we’ll see how well you do against a Boggart-Dementor. Okay?’ Harry nodded. ‘Good. As for the aforementioned homework, please try to think of a few happy memories you could use to cast the spell. ‘He waited for Harry to nod once more. ‘Now, I think it’s time for you to return to Gryffindor Tower. Get back there before curfew, will you?’

‘Yes, sir.’ Harry was still grinning. He petted Pads one last time, then bid them goodnight and slipped out the door. Remus put up the wards they always used for the nights.

‘I think I’ll start the shouting with Dumbledore, after all.’ Remus whipped around at Sirius’ angry voice and saw that he had already changed back. ‘I can’t believe no one ever told Harry anything about Lily and James,’ he fumed.

‘I know, Sirius, I know.’ Remus exhaled loudly. ‘But shouting at Dumbledore won’t change anything. Also, haven’t we agreed that I’ll deal with him?’

‘Maybe it won’t change anything, but it would make me feel better.’ Sirius looked at Remus challengingly, and Remus met his gaze. As usual, it was Sirius who started fidgeting first.

‘Not that it matters if we don’t catch the rat,’ Remus muttered and stepped away to gather his pyjamas. ‘Let me gain Harry’s trust, and maybe you can reveal yourself to him in a month or two, if we don’t find the rat and have you pardoned before that.’

‘A month or two? That’s a long time,’ Sirius whined, following Remus into the bathroom.

Remus threw his pyjamas down on the bathroom counter. ‘You’ve already waited for almost twelve years, you can take another few weeks.’

‘Too soon, Moony, too soon,’ Sirius grumbled, but he didn’t look upset.

‘Am I wrong, though?’ Remus asked, raising an eyebrow. Sirius rolled his eyes in response. Remus took off his robes and let them drop to the floor. ‘Now, I’m tired, so either grab your pyjamas and towel or get out because I refuse to deal with wet dog fur.’

Sirius grinned madly and ran out to collect his pyjama pants and towel from the wardrobe where they usually hung to avoid suspicion. He dropped them on top of Remus’ pyjamas. ‘Will you braid my hair first?’

Remus glanced up at him. ‘Maybe tomorrow, okay? Wake me up early and I’ll do that three-braid-thing that you like so much.’

Sirius sighed pretend-aggravated. ‘Fine. I’ll need a hair tie, then.’

Remus rolled his eyes and pulled one from the stash in the cabinet, throwing it at Sirius’ face, who caught it just before it hit his cheek and stuck his tongue out at Remus. He tied up his hair in a messy bun, then discarded his clothes and stepped in the shower, setting it to scorching hot as both he and Remus liked it.

‘Are you coming, Moonshine? I thought you wanted to hurry because you were tired.’

Remus chucked his socks at Sirius, who easily ducked them, laughing loudly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You have no idea how many times I typed Dememntor instead of Dementor while writing this chapter (yes, you guessed it, every fricking time). Thought I'd share and give everyone a good laugh.


	14. Chapter Fourteen of Remus Lupin’s photographs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to cut this chapter in two because otherwise it would have been like 10k words, and I wouldn't have posted it for another week.  
> Anyway, Harry finally learns a few things about his godfather

Most of October passed in a similar fashion as the first week of the month. Remus taught his classes, he supervised the Gryffindor Quidditch team’s training on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and he had his private lessons with Ginny and Harry on Tuesdays and Thursdays, respectively. During his lessons with the Weasley twins, he kept improving their pranks and motivating them to properly learn the charms, potions, and transfigurations that were bound to come up in the OWLs.

Before and after Quidditch practice, on the walk to and from the pitch, Remus usually chatted with Harry. He told him stories about James’ Quidditch matches, and what he had been like as Quidditch captain, or how Remus had befriended Lily, and how they had grown even closer when they had become Prefects. He also recalled some of their tamer pranks, like that time they had transfigured people’s robes to ridiculous colours, or when they had charmed the pumpkins that one Hallowe’en to follow people around and spew pumpkinseed at them. (Some of the students had figured out that the pumpkinseeds had been edible and the Hufflepuffs had ended up deliberately setting off the pumpkins every chance they had had to get a snack out of them.)

The only topic Remus refused to breach was Harry’s godfather. Sure, he didn’t exclude him when he told Harry an anecdote he had been part of, but he didn’t talk about him just to talk about him. When Harry asked why, Remus simply said, ‘It’s a rather long story, and I think you should hear it in one piece.’

As the month dragged on, the weather became more and more rainy and windy. Hagrid put up a sort of tent for his Care for Magical Creatures lessons, and the students stopped hanging around the lake. Whenever they had to leave the castle for classes, they half walked, half ran to the greenhouses or to Hagrid’s hut.

It didn’t stop the Quidditch practices, though; if anything, it made the teams work even harder. Remus now cast a repelling and a heating charm on himself and on Pads before every training session and stopped bringing the essays he was supposed to grade with him. Instead, he watched the Gryffindor team fly around above the pitch.

Sometime mid-October, on a particularly windy and rainy day, Harry was supposed to practise some fake dives, but after the third time he pulled up way too early, Oliver shouted for him to land. Remus watched with interest as Oliver gave Harry pointers, though he couldn’t hear much due to the howling of the wind.

‘I know, Oliver, but I can’t see anything!’ Harry shouted, his voice carrying despite the wind.

Oliver launched into a speech, but Remus couldn’t make out what he was saying. Pads nudged Remus’ side, who stood up and walked to the edge of the pitch, waving Harry and Oliver over. They stopped in front of him, looking up questioningly. Remus saw they were soaked to the bone and raised an eyebrow at them.

‘Why aren’t you using repelling charms?’ he asked, then turned to Oliver. ‘You must have already learnt one or two in Charms, Oliver.’

The team captain looked confused and admitted he didn’t remember any.

‘Give me your glasses, Harry.’ Remus reached out with his left and drew his wand out with his right. Once the glasses were in his hand, he pronounced, loud enough for Harry and Oliver to hear over the wind, ‘ _Impervius!_ ’ He gave back the glasses, and shot the boys an amused smile. ‘It also works on clothes, though you’ll need a drying charm first.’

‘Are these even allowed?’ Oliver asked with a suspicious glare.

‘You could check the rules, but I doubt they changed them in the last twenty years, and James used repelling and heating charms a lot during matches.’ He shrugged and made his way back to the stands where Pads was waiting for him.

Soon, it was the week before October’s full moon, and Remus found himself walking down to the dungeons to get his daily Wolfsbane Potion from Snape. The thing tasted incredibly disgusting, and Remus couldn’t even add anything to it to make the taste bearable as it would render the potions useless. Still, he’d rather spend the night of the full moon sleeping in his own bed, curled around Pads, than rough-housing with him in the Shack, so he sucked it up and went to Snape’s office to take the potion every evening.

After Wednesday’s Quidditch practice, Harry stayed behind, and Remus could tell he was trying to make up his mind. Remus waited patiently and watched as Harry crouched down to pet Pads. The boy sighed but didn’t look up to Remus.

‘Do you think Professor McGonagall would let me go to Hogsmeade even though my uncle refused to sign the form?’

Remus’ eyebrows drew together. ‘What do you mean, refused?’

‘He said he’d sign it if I behaved while his sister was there.’ Harry shrugged, and he didn’t need to say anything more – he had already recounted how he’d left the Dursleys’ house in August. ‘I left before he could do it,’ he added to clarify, stroking Pads’ back, who had started growling at the mention of Harry’s uncle.

‘Does anybody know he didn’t sign it?’ Remus asked.

‘Well, I told Ron and Hermione back on the train. Ron thinks I should tell Professor McGonagall why it’s not signed and then she’d let me go, but Hermione says she wouldn’t, and that I should stay in the castle anyway.’ He looked down gloomily, and not even Pads nuzzling and licking his cheek helped his mood.

‘Pity. I could have recommended a spell to fake your uncle’s signature on the form, but if your friends will know it’s fake, I wouldn’t risk it.’ Harry’s head snapped up, and he was staring at Remus with disbelief. ‘Don’t look at me like that; just because I’m your teacher, I’m also your parents’ friend, and I’m sure they wouldn’t want you to miss out on Hogsmeade.’ Harry’s lips curled up in that small smile he usually got when Remus was talking about his parents. ‘Also, what do you mean you should stay in the castle?’

Harry’s smile faltered, and he lowered his gaze. ‘Because of Sirius Black. Ron’s dad told me the Ministry thinks Black wants to kill me.’

Remus frowned at that. Pads was growling again, and he kept wiggling until Harry was practically hugging him. ‘I keep forgetting how incompetent the Ministry is,’ Remus muttered. ‘I don’t think Minerva will let you go to Hogsmeade, though.’ Harry looked up at him sadly, and Remus said, somewhat impulsively, ‘You know what? You should come to my room once your friends are gone, and I’ll tell you about your godfather.’

Harry looked astonished, then grinned up at Remus. ‘Really?’

‘Really. I’ll even ask the house-elves to send us up some hot chocolate and sandwiches.’

‘Thank you!’ Harry squeezed Pads’ neck where he was still hugging the dog, then stood up. ‘I should go back to the Tower now. Goodnight, sir!’

‘Goodnight, Harry. I’ll see you tomorrow after dinner?’

‘Yes, sir!’ Harry gave him a happy grin, happier than Remus had seen him for a few days now, then turned around and ran up the stairs. Remus and Pads followed him in a more leisurely pace, walking so close that they kept bumping into each other every few steps.

The day of the full moon arrived with much of the same weather. Luckily, it fell on a Saturday; Remus didn’t have to miss classes because of it, and he could spend Sunday resting before attending the Hallowe’en feast.

Sometime before moonrise, Sirius put up every ward and silencing charm he could think of to keep people out of their room, then warded off a smaller area for Remus to transform in without accidentally breaking something or hurting himself. They also prepared a sort-of nest on their bed, similar to the one Remus had made in the Shack during the last full moon.

The change was, once again, excruciating, and Remus must have passed out for a few seconds (or minutes? He couldn’t tell), because when he came back to himself, he wasn’t warded in anymore and Pads was waiting for him on the bed, their wands out of sight. Remus padded over to the bed, jumped up on in, then curled around Pads and promptly fell asleep.

When Remus woke up, he had already changed back, and he was lying naked under the covers, curled around Sirius’ leg. He blearily blinked up at Sirius, whose right hand was stroking Remus’ hair while he had a book in his left, but as he felt Remus shift against him, he put it down on the bedside table.

‘Morning, Moonshine,’ Sirius greeted, helping Remus sit up.

‘Morning,’ Remus croaked out, then cleared his throat a few times. Sirius grabbed his wand from his hair and summoned a glass of water. Remus gave him a small, thankful smile and drank it. He settled in, leaning on Sirius, and rested his head on Sirius’ shoulder. It wasn’t the most comfortable position as Sirius was almost a head smaller, but Remus figured he wouldn’t stay there long enough for his neck to get stiff.

‘How are you feeling?’ Sirius asked, kissing the top of Remus’ head.

‘My joints hurt a bit, but I’m pretty okay.’ He shifted and pressed his face to Sirius’ neck. ‘How long have you been awake?’

Sirius hummed against Remus’ hair. ‘About an hour, I think. I woke up when you changed back. You were thrashing so badly I almost flew off,’ he chuckled.

‘Sorry,’ Remus mumbled. ‘I don’t remember it, though.’

‘No need to apologize. You only tore apart some of the blankets, but I’ve fixed them.’ Sirius shrugged with the shoulder Remus wasn’t leaning on. ‘We should get up and eat breakfast soon. Harry will be here in an hour or so.’

Remus let out a small whine, but he pushed himself up to sit properly. ‘I’m not hungry,’ he protested for the sake of it. ‘Give me something to wear?’ he asked Sirius and pulled the covers up to his neck. It was still raining (or maybe again, but it had been raining on and off for days now and Remus just didn’t care about semantics at this point), and not even the heating charms and the fire managed to keep the cold out of the room.

Sirius got up from the bed, and Remus saw he was already dressed in his favourite pair of well-worn jeans and one of Remus’ jumpers. As usual, he wasn’t wearing shoes, just a pair of mismatched socks. He walked to the wardrobe and pulled out some clothes for Remus, then helped him put them on.

Once Remus was dressed, Sirius lifted the wards he had put up the previous night and shifted into his Animagus form before Remus asked Flappy to bring them breakfast. A few minutes later, they were sitting in the armchairs, the side table standing between them filled with breakfast food and two mugs of black tea.

They ate and chatted quietly, then, as soon as Remus was done eating, Sirius skipped over to sit on the floor between Remus’ legs, and Remus started braiding his hair.

‘Do the three-braid thing?’ Sirius asked, and Remus chuckled.

‘Sirius, I was a wolf not two hours ago, I’ll be surprised if I manage one braid properly.’

‘Fiiine,’ Sirius whined, but he grabbed one of Remus’ hands and kissed his knuckles.

‘I need both hands to braid your hair,’ Remus reminded him, and Sirius let go with a sigh. Remus started over and was a bit slower than usual as his fingers were still stiff from the transformation. ‘Do you have a hair tie?’ he asked a few minutes later.

Sirius summoned one from the bathroom and gave it to Remus, who tied off the braid.

‘You should change soon. Harry will be here any minute now.’

‘Will you let me talk to him?’ Sirius questioned, turning around, and laying his head on one of Remus’ thighs. He gazed up at Remus with hopeful eyes.

‘We’ll see, okay? Let’s not scare him off.’ He tucked a shorter lock of hair that had come loose behind Sirius’ ear.

‘Always the voice of reason,’ Sirius muttered, but he was smiling.

Remus smiled back, then watched as Sirius flicked his wand to clean up the remains of their breakfast and summoned a few bars of chocolate from Remus’ secret stash. Just as Sirius was pushing his wand into his braid, there was a knock on the door. Sirius checked if his wand was safely lodged in his hair, then grinned up at Remus and shifted into his Animagus form.

Remus turned in his seat and called out, ‘Come in!’

The door opened to reveal Harry, looking a bit defeated, but his eyes lit up when he saw Remus and Pads. ‘Good morning, Professor.’

‘Hello, Harry,’ Remus greeted, and motioned for him to sit down in the armchair Sirius had occupied. ‘Should I ask the house-elves for some hot chocolate, or would you rather drink some tea for now?’

Harry sat down, thinking. ‘I’d love some tea,’ he decided.

Remus summoned the kettle, infusers and two mugs. ‘What blend would you like?’

Pads trotted over to greet Harry with a lick on the face and lay down on the boy’s feet. Harry patted him on the head. ‘I don’t know, black? What else is there?’

‘There are many different types of black tea,’ Remus chuckled. ‘You can tell them apart based on where they’re grown, when they’re harvested, and what spices are added to the tealeaves.’ Harry gave him a blank look, and Remus shrugged. ‘Sorry, that’s a topic I can talk about forever. I’ll make us some Earl Grey, okay?’

Harry nodded, and Remus filled the kettle, tapped it with his wand to make it boil, then summoned a box of loose tea and filled one of the infusers from it. He put it into the pot and poured the boiling water on it. Setting a timer for four minutes, he leaned back in his chair and gazed at Harry and Pads, a smile pulling at the corner of his mouth.

‘So,’ Remus started, ‘Ron and Hermione left for Hogsmeade?’

‘They did,’ Harry said with a sour expression. ‘I asked Professor McGonagall if she could make an exception, but as you said she would, she refused,’ he admitted.

‘I’m not surprised,’ Remus commented. The timer went off with a shrill, and Remus quickly shut it off, pouring the tea into their mugs. ‘Do you want some honey? I think I also have some sugar somewhere if that’s what you prefer,’ he offered.

‘I usually just drink the tea at breakfast without adding anything.’

Remus laughed. ‘The house-elves add so much sugar and lemon juice to that tea it’s not even tea anymore. I used to rant about it so much that sometimes your godfather would cast a silencing charm on me during breakfast.’ He summoned the raspberry honey and added a large spoonful to his tea, frowning when he saw the jar was almost empty. ‘I’ll need to make a trip to Hogsmeade soon,’ he muttered.

‘You were really close with my godfather, right? You always talk so… I don’t know, fondly? of him.’ Harry lifted his mug and took a small sip.

‘He was one of my first friends, and we lived together for almost a decade. We practically told each other everything. Sure, James was his brother, but there are things not even he knew about.’ Remus summoned a small envelop.

‘Why not? Didn’t he trust my dad?’

Remus shook his head. ‘That not it.’ He slipped the photographs he and Sirius had chosen the previous day to show Harry out of the envelop. ‘Your godfather came from a- well, a blood purist family. Like the Malfoys, but even worse. He never believed any of their bullshit and would often start a fight with his parents, and I have to tell you, his mother really wasn’t a nice person. She punished him for any reason she could find, and I mean physically punished him. With curses.’ Remus sighed and put down the photographs on the table. ‘Your father, on the other hand, had a really tight-knit family, and I don’t think he ever realized just how bad things were for your godfather. I mean, he saw the scars and heard the Howlers, but didn’t know much about the nightmares, not even after your godfather ran away from his family.’

Harry was staring at Remus, slack-jawed, and Remus gave him a few minutes to process what he had just heard.

Remus chuckled apologetically. ‘Sorry, I probably shouldn’t have started with that.’

‘I- it’s okay. But why did he tell you and not my dad? I would tell Ron anything because he’s like a brother to me, but maybe not Hermione.’

‘Does Ron know about the Dursleys?’ Remus asked suddenly.

‘They both know the Dursleys don’t like me,’ Harry mumbled, and Pads nuzzled his hand.

‘That’s not what I’m asking. Does Ron know about the bad stuff that you told me?’

Harry looked down and shook his head. ‘No, I don’t want to tell him. He’d try to help, but he’s always had his family. He wouldn’t really understand.’

‘That’s exactly why your godfather didn’t tell your dad certain things. My parents weren’t bad like your godfather’s, but I had my own troubles, and we found that confiding in each other made things a lot easier. Then, after graduation, James moved in with Lily, and Pete went home to his mother, and your godfather and I decided to share an apartment. Or, really, he told me that I was moving in with him because he’d get bored out of his mind on his own.’

‘He sounds like a great friend,’ Harry observed, and Remus nearly choked on his laughter.

‘Yes, I think you could say that,’ he managed to get out. He motioned at the photographs. ‘I wanted to show you those.’

Harry put down his mug and grabbed the pictures. He looked them through, listening to Remus’ stories of when they had been taken.

‘That one was our first night at Hogwarts.’ It was a picture of four boys; James and Sirius standing close together, their arms around each other, and they were grinning madly at the camera, while Pete was a bit to the side, his smile more unsure, and Remus was standing in the background, not exactly smiling but looking amused, nonetheless. ‘Pete brought with him his Muggle camera, and James wanted to document everything. Of course, we ran out of film in a week or two.’

The next picture was about Sirius, alone on his bed, his hair much longer than in the first picture, and he had his tie tied around his forehead in lieu of a bandana. ‘That was… late fourth year, I think. James and Pete were in detention, and we were planning some prank or other. He used his tie to get his hair out of his face a lot,’ Remus commented.

‘Wow,’ Harry mouthed when he saw the next photograph. Sirius was sitting with his back to the camera, his scars and some of his first tattoos on show.

‘That was the weekend after his seventeenth birthday. Wizarding tattoo artists won’t tattoo you unless you’re of age, so naturally, as soon as your godfather turned seventeen, we sneaked out of Hogwarts and visited one.’

‘Did you also get one?’ Harry asked absentmindedly, his gaze fixed on Sirius’ scars.

‘Not that day; I only came of age next March, and this was in November. But yes, I do have a tattoo here.’ Remus pointed at his left hipbone with one finger where his clothes were hiding a pair of pawprints. He waited for Harry to ask more about Sirius’ tattoos, but he didn’t seem to find it strange that Sirius had had the constellations Lupus and Canis Major tattooed on his back as soon as he had been old enough.

‘What about the scars?’

‘That large, red gash was a parting gift from his mother. The silvery ones, he had gotten them to prove a point.’ Remus couldn’t fully keep the exasperation out of his voice.

‘He sounds pretty reckless but fun.’ Harry traced Sirius’ scars with a finger.

‘He was sorted into Gryffindor, after all. Though if you ask me, he was also annoying, especially when it came to his hair.’ At Harry’s questioning glance, he elaborated, ‘The best he could do was a bun, usually kept in place by his wand, or sometimes, mine, but he made me learn to braid his hair, and then would annoy me until I braided it for him.’

‘Did you do this, then?’ Harry pointed at the photo.

‘Yes; no one else was allowed to touch his hair, even though Lily or Marlene could have easily done it for him.’ Remus waved at the picture. ‘That’s what he called the three-braid thing, and it always took a long time to make. The Dutch braid at the sides of his head were easy enough, but the French braid on the top kept falling apart.’

‘I have no idea what’s the difference.’

‘Don’t worry, I only know because your mother taught me,’ Remus chuckled and motioned for Harry to switch to the next picture, then took a large gulp of his tea.

Harry stared at the next photo for a few quiet minutes, and Remus could tell the moment he recognized what he was seeing. ‘That’s me, right?’ the boy whispered.

‘Yes, you were about a week old when it was taken.’ Remus leaned over the table to better see the picture. There wasn’t much he needed to say: Sirius was in the middle, holding baby Harry in his hands, looking incredibly soft despite his leather jacket and piercings and black nail polish, and there was Remus, hovering over Sirius’ shoulder and smiling down at Harry. It was one of Remus’ absolute favourite pictures of Sirius, and one he hadn’t looked at in a long time.

The next picture showed, once again, Harry and Sirius, about a year later. Harry was flying around Sirius’ legs on what looked like a toy broom, and Sirius was trying to catch him without tripping over his own legs.

‘That was your first birthday. I missed it because I was on a mission, and your godfather insisted on taking as many photos as possible so he could show me when I got back.’ Remus shook his head. ‘He later told me that your mother tried to hex him when she saw we had gotten you a toy broom.’

‘Didn’t you say he hated brooms?’

‘He hated flying on them,’ Remus corrected. ‘He was James’ most enthusiastic fan, and if he could, I’m sure he’d sneak in to watch your Quidditch matches.’ Pads huffed at Remus, trying his best to roll his eyes, but Harry didn’t seem to notice.

‘But no family is allowed to attend,’ Harry objected, and Remus raised an eyebrow.

‘That’s why I said he’d sneak in. He’d find a way around the rules.’

Harry lowered his gaze and stared at his one-year-old self being chased by his godfather. Pads stood up so he could reach Harry’s face and nuzzled the boy’s cheek.

‘There’s one more picture there,’ Remus remarked, and Harry finally set aside the one he’d been staring at.

The last one was a group picture, taken in a large living room decorated for Yule. Sirius was sitting in the middle of a couch with Harry on his lap, his index fingers tightly clutched in Harry’s small fists. Remus was on Sirius’ right, a large mug in his hands, and Lily was on Sirius’ left, leaning in and laughing at her son. James was on the floor in front of Lily, his head resting on his wife’s knee as he was gazing up at Harry.

There were also two loveseats in the room, one occupied by Lily’s friends Harry recognized as Marlene McKinnon and Dorcas Meadowes from the wedding photograph, and the other by two men, presumably brothers, who reminded Harry a bit of Ron.

‘This was your first Christmas,’ Remus supplied. ‘Those two are Gideon and Fabian Prewett,’ he pointed at the two men Harry hadn’t recognized. ‘Their older sister, Molly Weasley, is your friend’s mother. They were pranksters, just like the twins.’

Harry nodded. ‘What about Pete and Mary? I thought they were also your friends.’

‘Mary was hiding somewhere among the Muggles. She was a Muggle-born, she tried to disappear from the war. We couldn’t contact her. And Pete was- I’m not sure. I think he was with his mother.’ Remus frowned. He had thought about it a lot, after everything, and he had come to the conclusion that whenever Peter had excused himself, he had been on missions for Voldemort. Or maybe not every time, but often enough. ‘Now, I’m sure you have a lot of questions, but let’s ask the house-elves for some lunch first, shall we?’

‘And hot chocolate,’ Harry grinned.

‘And hot chocolate,’ Remus agreed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you guys know that look of Avi Kaplan (and apparently Harry Styles) where his hair on the sides is in a Dutch braid, and the top is in a bun? That’s what inspired Sirius’ ‘three-braid thing’, but I swapped the bun for a French braid.


	15. Chapter Fifteen of Remus Lupin’s Hallowe’en

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I'm a whole day late. This chapter gave me a lot of trouble, and I'm still not completely sure about it, and also, this week's been really messy so far, with power outages and cut Internet cables which didn't help the writing process. But it's finally done, so here, have some uncle-nephew bonding time. (I promise I'll have a chapter with much more WolfStar in it in about two weeks, as Sirius' birthday is coming up.)

Twenty minutes later, Remus and Harry were munching on the sandwiches Flappy had sent up for them, and Pads was lying under the table, where Remus had moved his food bowl. Remus let Harry mull over everything he had told him so far, and waited for his questions, trying to figure out how much to say just yet.

Harry reached out with a hand to grab his mug and took a sip of his hot chocolate. ‘Why won’t you tell me my godfather’s name? You call everyone else by their first name.’

Remus exhaled loudly and put down his half-eaten sandwich. He considered for a moment how he should approach the topic, then settled on, ‘You told me the Ministry thinks Sirius Black is after you. How much do you know about him?’

Harry frowned at the sudden change of topic, and Pads’ head peaked out from beneath the table as he looked up at Remus curiously. ‘He’s the first person to escape from Azkaban. Mr Weasley said he was Voldemort’s right-hand man, and probably believes that killing me would bring back Voldemort.’ He thought for a moment, then added, ‘He killed a dozen people with a single curse.’

Remus dragged a hand down his face. ‘I see the Ministry keeps sticking to that narrative, even though they never proved any of it.’

‘I thought there’d been witnesses and all. I heard Black had been laughing madly when the Aurors had come for him.’

Remus shook his head. ‘That’s not how I’d describe what happened.’ He shot Pads a worrying look, but the dog was back on Harry’s feet, curled around the boy’s legs. ‘Things were- messy, in those days. Voldemort had just disappeared, and the Aurors were out there to catch his followers. They were permitted to use the Unforgivable Curses, and they arrested anyone who so much as looked at them in a funny way. They didn’t bother with investigations and trials, just locked people in the cells of Azkaban.’

‘You think Black wasn’t guilty? But then why is he after me?’

‘I know he didn’t kill those people, and so would the Ministry if they had conducted a proper investigation. Or granted him a trial.’ Remus rubbed his eyes. ‘And he’s not after you, that’s just the Ministry’s idiotic theory.’

‘You don’t like the Ministry,’ Harry pointed out, and Remus gave a sour laugh.

‘No, I don’t. I spent two years trying to get Sirius a trial, but the Ministry kept refusing it. ‘He’s a Black, he deserves to be in Azkaban,’ they would say. Which is stupid because according to that logic, his Healer cousin should also be in Azkaban, instead of working at St Mungo’s.’ Remus sighed, the exhaustion from the transformation suddenly hitting him with full force. ‘And Sirius hadn’t even had any contact with the rest of the Blacks for more than five years by then.’

Harry gave Remus a sharp look, understanding showing on his face. ‘You told me my godfather had been imprisoned for a crime he hadn’t committed.’ Remus nodded. ‘You said he came from a blood purist family, like the Malfoys, but he had been disowned.’ Harry slid forward in his seat, perching on the edge. ‘And when I asked his name, you started talking about Sirius Black.’ Remus looked Harry in the eye and raised an eyebrow in challenge. ‘He’s my godfather, isn’t he?’

‘Yes, he is,’ Remus confirmed, lowering his gaze. Pads wiggled around until his head was lying on Harry’s lap, who automatically started stroking his fur.

‘I don’t understand. Everything you told me about my godfather, and what I’ve heard about Sirius Black- it just doesn’t make any sense. If he’s my godfather, why does everybody think he wants to kill me?’

‘It’s a long story, and I cannot say I know everything, but I’ll try to be as concise as possible.’ Remus picked up his mug of hot chocolate, cast a heating charm on it, and took a few sips. ‘As I already told you, we were at war with Voldemort, and in ‘81, he targeted your parents. Don’t ask why, I was never told where this piece of information had come from.’

Harry turned in his armchair to fully face Remus, careful not to dislodge Pads’ head.

‘We had all been in hiding for months by then. That Christmas,’ he pointed at the picture still lying on the table between them, ‘was the last time we had a larger gathering. By next autumn, many of our friends had already died. Sirius spent a lot of time with you and your parents, and I was on missions a lot. We lived together, yet we barely ever met in those days.’

Remus thought back to his mission, spending weeks on end among the werewolves, the secrets, not knowing whether his loved ones would still be alive when he went home, _if_ he went home at all.

‘We agreed not to tell each other about our missions, about anything important. We figured that way the Death Eaters couldn’t get much out of us if we’d been caught for information. We kept a diary instead, or, well, I kept a diary, Sirius wrote letters, so the other would know about the more important things if anything happened to either of us. This is how I knew Sirius hadn’t done any of what they accused him of.’

‘But he was arrested right after he- right after the explosion, I mean. How did he have time to write you a letter?’

‘That’s not what I mean, but I’ll get there. There’s more to the story.’ He stared into the fire with a blank expression on his face. ‘When Dumbledore learnt Voldemort was targeting your parents, he made them put up a Fidelius Charm. With this charm, you can hide whole properties, and only one person, the Secret Keeper, can give away the location. For some reason, Dumbledore thought this would be the best option, even though Lily tried to convince him that moving to another country should have the same effect.’ Remus scoffed.

Pads made a move, as if he wanted to walk over to Remus, but decided against it.

‘Dumbledore wanted to become the Secret Keeper, but your mother refused because he wouldn’t tell them where he’d got the information. It was also becoming evident that there was a spy among us, and your parents wanted someone close to them, someone they trusted, to be the Secret Keeper.’

‘Sirius Black?’ Harry guessed, tensing up.

Remus glanced at him and nodded. ‘Yes, they told everyone it would be Sirius, but there weren’t many people left to choose from. Most of those they trusted were on the front line, either as spies or Aurors, with a high risk of getting caught. Sirius was usually staying with them, sort of as a personal guard, and the only other person who wasn’t in the middle of the war was Pete, living with his mum in the countryside. No one would have trusted him with anything important, and that’s why he and Sirius switched at the last moment.’

Harry gave Remus a confused look, and Remus let him think over what he had said. He only had to wait a few heartbeats before Harry’s eyes went wide. ‘The Ministry thinks Sirius was the Secret Keeper and he sold my parents to Voldemort.’

Remus leaned back in his seat and stretched his out. ‘Yes. Except Sirius wasn’t the Secret Keeper, it was Pete, Peter Pettigrew.’ He watched Harry’s face closely, but the boy didn’t react to the name. ‘I guess they didn’t tell you about him.’

‘Peter Pettigrew? No, why?’

‘Because it’s his murder Sirius was locked up for.’

Anger washed over Harry’s face. ‘Pettigrew deserved it.’

Remus passed a hand through his hair, making it stick up in places. ‘Harry, what did I tell you? Sirius was locked up for a crime he hadn’t committed. Pettigrew is not dead.’

‘Then what happened?’ Harry demanded, putting down his mug on the table hard.

‘When your parents- Well, Sirius knew Peter had betrayed us. He tried to take you in first, he sent me a Patronus to prepare the guest room, but a few hours later he sent another saying that Dumbledore had other plans and didn’t let him take you and that he would go and deal with Peter. But the little rat saw it coming and set up a trap,’ Remus growled, his eyes flashing yellow as they reflected the flames. ‘As soon as Sirius found him, Peter started shouting things that would make the Ministry officials believe Sirius had been the one to betray your parents, then there was the explosion, and Peter disappeared.’

Remus stared into the fireplace with a frown on his face, his hands clutching the mug almost tight enough to crack it in half. Harry looked up at him, his mouth slightly open, running a hand through his messy hair.

‘How?’ Harry ended up asking in a small voice.

Remus’ head whipped around to look at the boy, perching on the edge of his armchair, his hair sticking up in every direction, Pads’ head lying on his lap. ‘I can’t prove anything, this is only my theory, but I think Peter cast a blasting curse – there are a few he could have used – and he used a trick or two to disappear in the aftermath, when nobody would notice. The Aurors only found a finger, though it didn’t look like it had been blown off, but like it had been cut off.’

‘Why did the Aurors think it was Bla- my godfather?’ Harry corrected.

‘As I said, he’s a Black. And they didn’t follow standard procedure – checking the wands, questioning the suspect, all that. Not that they found Peter’s wand, anyway, but they could have proven that Sirius wasn’t the one to cast the spell. They could have also taken a moment to find an explanation for the left-behind finger, because I spent a few months researching but never found a spell that could have made a whole body except for one single finger combust.’

Harry’s lips were pressed together in a tight line as he leaned back in his seat. ‘The Aurors didn’t really care about the truth, did they?’ he said to himself, then addressed Remus, ‘But why did the Ministry turn you away when you went to them? Well, apart from my godfather being a Black. Couldn’t someone help you?’

Remus sighed, trying to phrase the next few sentences carefully. ‘The Wizengamot could have called a trial, but the plea would have had to come from someone a lot more important than me.’

‘What do you mean? You and my parents and my godfather were close, who else could have had a better understanding of what had happened?’

‘That didn’t matter.’ Remus shook his head. ‘Only a senior Auror or a member of Wizengamot could have convinced them to re-open the case. The single Auror that listened to me had just joined the force, the assistant of DMLE – Department of Magical Law Enforcement – that I spoke to several times didn’t have much power either, and when I asked the Head of Wizengamot, he simply told me to give up,’ he listed bitterly.

Harry considered this for a moment. ‘What about Dumbledore? The Ministry usually listens to him, no?’

‘He has been the Head of Wizengamot for decades now,’ Remus supplied, letting Harry work it out for himself.

Harry sucked in a loud breath. ‘Why would he tell you to give up? That’s not how I know him. He’s always helped me.’

‘He’s also the person who left you with your aunt, even when your rightful legal guardian was right there in front of him.’ Remus watched Harry’s face for any minute changes, and when he only saw anger but not mistrust, he went on. ‘Dumbledore always has secret plans, and he likes to keep pieces of information to himself. When I was younger, I also thought he would do anything to help me, and he did do a lot, but now I know he only did it because he hoped I would do anything he asked of me in return.’

‘I still don’t understand why he let my godfather go to Azkaban.’

‘Because Sirius is your rightful guardian, and Dumbledore couldn’t have sent you to your aunt if Sirius had been around.’

Harry gave Remus a doubtful look but didn’t comment. Instead, he muttered, ‘I wish I could meet my godfather.’

Pads stood up properly and turned to Remus, the question written all over his face, but Remus shook his head slightly. Pads gave Remus his best puppy eyes, which, even though he was a bear-like dog, worked almost as well as when he was in his human form, but Remus didn’t let his resolve crumble. Defeated, Pads lay back down, his head resting on Harry’s thigh once again.

‘You will,’ Remus reassured, ‘but if he showed his face around the castle, the Dementors would drag him back to Azkaban immediately.’

Harry nodded. ‘We need to find Pettigrew first.’

‘We?’ Remus inquired with a raised eyebrow. At Harry’s determined expression, he continued, ‘You need to focus on school and next week’s Quidditch match.’

‘I can also help,’ Harry said defiantly.

‘Let’s win the match first,’ Remus offered, and Harry reluctantly let it go for the time being.

‘Do you think he’ll let me go live with him?’ he asked instead.

Remus glanced up at him. ‘He’s your godfather, and he already tried to take you in once. Why wouldn’t he?’ Harry shrugged, then Remus remembered to add, ‘Though, he’d probably come to stay at my place, if that’s okay with you.’

Harry gave Remus a questioning look. ‘Doesn’t he have his own house?’

Remus chucked, and Pads huffed. ‘He does, but I doubt he’d want to go back to his parents’ house, and the mansion he inherited from his uncle may be falling apart due to a lack of maintenance. Before he was imprisoned, we had lived together in the cottage my mum had left me for almost two years, the same cottage where I still live. We’d need some new furniture, but there’s enough space for the three of us.’

Harry’s head hung low and his voice trembled as he said, ‘Would you really let me leave the Dursleys and come live with you?’

Remus’ lips pulled into a sad smile, and he reached over the table to put a comforting hand on Harry’s shoulder. ‘Of course. I told you, I was- _we were_ prepared to take you in twelve years ago. Nothing could ever change that.’

Harry lifted his head, a watery smile playing on his lips. He tried to speak, but nothing came out. Remus stood up as swiftly as his stiff joints would let him and pulled the boy up into a crushing hug, with Pads stuck between their legs. Harry let out a shaky breath against Remus’ chest and looped an arm around Remus, his other hand dropping to Pads’ back.

They stood there sharing the embrace for a few minutes before Harry reluctantly drew back with a sheepish expression on his face. He scratched the back of his head with the hand not resting on Pads’ back, his eyes fixed on his shoes. Remus grabbed the boy’s shoulders with both hands, drawing Harry’s attention to him.

‘Hey. I know I’ve been doing a shitty job of being your uncle for the last twelve years, but I’m here now, and Sirius will be too, hopefully soon.’ He smiled at Harry, his gaze dropping to Pads for a moment. ‘Though for now, it’s only Pads and me.’

Pads head-bumped into Remus’ thigh, who muttered, ‘Stupid dog, don’t do that,’ under his breath, using his grip on Harry’s shoulders to keep himself upright. ‘Sorry,’ he said to Harry, ‘my joints tend to stiffen up in this weather, and Pads doing that doesn’t help.’ He let go of Harry’s shoulder, walked back to his seat, and sat down to finish his sandwich.

Harry also lowered himself back on his armchair and reached for his mug, grimacing when he felt the hot chocolate had gone cold. Remus reached over and tapped the mug with his wand, muttering a heating spell, and Harry looked over at him with a grateful smile.

‘Heating spells are pretty useful,’ Remus mused. ‘Though what spells aren’t? I could show you a few next Thursday if you wanted.’

‘Thank you.’ Harry nodded, then gulped down his hot chocolate.

‘Just try not to set something on fire, like James did when he cast a strong heating spell on his bed back in fifth year.’

Harry snorted out a laugh in surprise. ‘He didn’t!’

‘He did,’ Remus chuckled. ‘It was the middle of winter and awfully cold, and James kept ranting about how freezing it was despite the fire and kept asking us how we weren’t feeling it. Sirius and I had already put up some heating charms on our beds, and Sirius recommended a rather… _volatile_ charm for James to use. The house-elves ended up having to change his curtains, they were scorched so badly.’ He shook his head, laughing quietly.

‘So it was really Sirius’ fault,’ Harry remarked.

‘Well, James should have known Sirius would get back at him after he had replaced Sirius’ shampoo with flea dip.’ Remus shrugged and grabbed another sandwich.

Harry roared with laughter at that, as he usually did whenever Remus told him about a prank they had pulled on the school, or each other. ‘Why flea dip?’

‘Sirius is also known as the Dog Star,’ Remus supplied.

Tears were now running down Harry’s face, but then he stopped suddenly, his eyebrows drawing together. ‘Wait. Sirius is the Dog Star. What if the Grim Trelawny keeps seeing everywhere is actually referring to Sirius?’

‘Could be,’ Remus said, shrugging. ‘It could also mean Pads.’

‘Or both.’ Harry grinned up at Remus, stoking Pads’ head absentmindedly.

‘Maybe,’ Remus conceded, lowering his gaze to Pads.

Before either of them could say anything else, there was a knock on the door. Harry whirled around in his seat, rubbing at his face to wipe off the tears. ‘It’s probably Ron and Hermione.’

Remus nodded. ‘Harry, before you go, please promise me you won’t tell anyone of what I told you today. I’m afraid of what might happen if it reaches the wrong ears.’

He stood up and walked to the door, opening it to a slightly red-faced Ron and Hermione. Their hands were full of bags from the different shops in Hogsmeade, Ron’s hair was dripping water, and they were still shivering from the cold outside.

‘Hello, Professor,’ Hermione greeted, and Remus stepped back to let them in. ‘Oh, no, we should go to the Tower and change before the feast, we’ve just come for Harry.’

‘Hey, guys.’ Harry was standing next to Remus now, with Pads between them. ‘Did you find what I’d asked?’

‘Yeah,’ Ron nodded, ‘but Hermione spent an awful lot of time choosing.’

Hermione rolled her eyes and held out a small bag to Harry. ‘It’s linden, the shopkeeper said it’s not the most common, but it’s not really exotic either.’

Harry grabbed the bag, looked into it, then offered it to Remus. ‘I’ve noticed you’re almost out of honey, and I asked Ron and Hermione to buy a jar in Hogsmeade,’ he explained.

Remus gave Harry a surprised smile as he took the bag and revealed a jar of green-tinted honey. ‘Thank you, all of you.’ Hermione beamed at him while Ron lowered his gaze embarrassedly. Remus patted Harry on the back. ‘Now go, I’ll see you three at the feast.’

Harry crouched down and gave Pads one last pat, then the trio said goodbye to Remus and started towards Gryffindor Tower. Remus closed the door and walked to the small counter where he kept all his tea supplies to put the linden honey next to the almost-empty jars of acacia and raspberry.

Sirius, as usual, shifted back into human as soon as the door was safely closed, and grabbed his wand from his hair. He plopped down on their bed, then summoned the tray of the left-over sandwiches.

‘The feast will start soon,’ Remus reminded him, grimacing as he climbed on the bed to sit between Sirius and the wall so Sirius’ wand hand would be free.

‘Soon? In over an hour! And I’m starving now.’ He took a sandwich from the tray and nearly swallowed it in one go as Remus watched him, bemused. ‘You could have let me show myself to Harry. I wouldn’t have scared him. I mean, I don’t look anything like my mugshots, or like an unhinged murderer.’

‘No, you look like you’re stuck in the hippie years.’ Sirius rolled his eyes. ‘And that’s not why I didn’t want you to change back.’ Sirius quirked an eyebrow questioningly as his mouth was too full to form words. ‘There are too many Legilimens in this school for my liking, and I don’t imagine Harry knows Occlumency.’

Sirius chewed for a few more seconds before he swallowed the half sandwich. ‘You could have warned me earlier.’

‘I only thought of it when Harry was already here.’ Remus slid down until he could rest his head on Sirius’ shoulder somewhat comfortably, and let his eyes fall shut. Sirius put his right arm around Remus’ shoulder to keep him in place, and reached for the next sandwich with his left, biting off half of it.

They sat in silence for the next couple of minutes. The rain was pattering on the windows, and the wind’s howling was becoming louder with each passing heartbeat. The fire crackled softly in the fireplace and the flames painted the hard stonewalls of the room in a yellowish glow.

When Sirius didn’t immediately reach for the next sandwich after finishing one, Remus opened an eye, sat up straight, Sirius’ arm sliding between them, and nudged Sirius’ shoulder. ‘Penny for your thoughts?’

Sirius sighed and dropped his head on Remus’ shoulder. ‘It’s just- I haven’t really thought about it between the full moon and Harry, but today’s the thirty-first. It’s been twelve years.’

‘I know.’ Remus’ left reached for Sirius’ right, and he slid his fingers between Sirius’, holding on tightly. He gave Sirius a sad smile even though the other couldn’t see it. ‘I haven’t been to Godric’s Hollow since the funeral, but we could go there if you wanted.’ Sirius choked out a yes, and Remus pressed a kiss into his hair. ‘Tuesday? I have a few hours between my last class and Ginny’s lesson.’

‘Okay,’ Sirius said shakily.

‘And on Wednesday,’ Remus started, and idea forming in his head, ‘we could go out after my classes. I’ll ask Rolanda to oversee the Gryffindor team’s training.’

‘It’s so strange to hear you call her that. I don’t think I ever knew Madam Hooch’s first name was Rolanda before this September,’ Sirius mumbled, then lifted his head and looked at Remus questioningly. ‘What’s on Wednesday?’

‘Your birthday.’ Sirius’ eyes widened at that, as if he’d forgotten he even had a birthday. ‘We could go to a restaurant or stay at the cottage and cook something if that’s what you prefer.’

‘The cottage sounds good,’ Sirius hummed, cuddling closer to Remus, the rest of the sandwiches forgotten. ‘I don’t have to disguise myself for that.’

Half an hour later, they lazily walked down to the Great Hall for the Halloween Feast. Sirius, as Remus had expected, ate a lot despite the sandwiches he had practically inhaled not an hour earlier. Ever since his ribs weren’t showing anymore, Remus let him walk around the Hall and goad the students (and sometimes the teachers) into giving him the best bites.

Remus chatted with Filius for most of the dinner, though he kept an eye on Pads the whole time as he padded around the Hall and ate at least a whole pumpkin pie. Probably more. Remus had no idea how he managed it and hoped he wouldn’t be sick later from eating too much.

Pads trotted back to the staff table as the feast was over and the students started to file out. Remus was still sitting, finishing his dessert, and drinking pumpkin juice. Pads lay down on his feet and he waited for Remus to be ready to go back to their room.

Before they moved, however, there was a commotion in the Entrance Hall, and one of the Gryffindor Prefects ran through the door, panting loudly, his face red.

‘Professor Dumbledore,’ the boy gasped, trying to catch his breath. ‘Someone- Someone attacked the Fat Lady!’


	16. Chapter Sixteen of Remus Lupin hunting a rat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, I'm on time this week! Sure, some of these scenes had been written weeks ago, but whatever.  
> I really should reread this whole thing because I'm sure it could use some editing, but it's over 50k words now and I don't have enough time.
> 
> tw for a mention of blood sacrifice, just in case (y'know, just some Black family traditions)

Following the Prefect’s words, the teachers still in the Great Hall all jumped up and rushed to the entrance of Gryffindor Tower. Remus and Pads followed them in a slower pace as Remus was still not feeling completely fine after the full moon. They reached the corridor of the Fat Lady just as the headmaster turned to a cackling Peeves.

‘What do you mean, Peeves?’ Dumbledore asked.

‘Ashamed, Your Headship, sir. Doesn’t want to be seen. She’s a horrible mess. Saw her running through the landscape up on the fourth floor, sir, dodging between the trees. Crying something dreadful. Poor thing,’ the poltergeist added, his tone contradicting his words.

Remus was now close enough to see the Fat Lady’s slashed up canvas. Chunks of it were missing, probably lying on the floor hidden by the students between Remus and the wall.

‘Oh, yes, Professorhead,’ Peeves went on, answering a question Remus missed. ‘He got very angry when she wouldn’t let him in, you see.’ Peeves paused for dramatic effect. ‘Nasty temper he’s got, that Sirius Black.’

The corridor erupted in chaos, and it took Dumbledore and McGonagall a few minutes to calm the Gryffindors and herd them back to the Great Hall.

Remus, though, didn’t notice any of it. He stood there rooted to the spot, his left gripping Pads’ fur on the back on his neck, his eyes glued to the destroyed portrait. His teeth gritted together, trying to come up with an explanation that didn’t involve Dumbledore or Peter setting up Sirius once again. Well, it probably wasn’t Dumbledore. Not even Dumbledore was a good enough actor to pull off that kind of a shocked expression.

However, Peter was really the only explanation Remus could think of. He had always been better at Transfiguration than he had let on, and Remus was sure he could have transfigured himself to look close enough to Sirius for the Fat Lady to believe it.

As the corridor cleared out, Remus stepped closer to the portrait to examine the canvas. He crouched down to check the pieces lying on the floor, and his eyebrows drew together as he picked one up. Pads nuzzled his cheek in question. ‘Look at their shape,’ Remus said, spreading out the pieces so they could properly examine them all. ‘Is it just me, or are they really identical?’

He flicked his wand, and the pieces gathered together in the air, one on top of the other. They were all rhombuses of the same size and shape, the edges too smooth to have been cut with a knife. Pads’ growling slowly became louder, indicating that he had also put it together.

Someone cleared their throat behind Remus, and he stood up to see Filch watching him and Pads with an irritated expression. ‘Professor Lupin. If you don’t mind.’ He gestured at the portrait and the pieces of canvas still floating mid-air.

Remus stepped back and let the pieces of canvas fall to the floor. He sank a hand into Pads’ fur to keep him at his side. ‘Can I help you with anything?’

Filch gave Remus a hateful look, muttering, ‘I’ll manage. I have to examine it before moving it. Slashing it up with a knife, what has this school come to.’

Remus sighed. ‘A knife? What do you mean?’

‘The headmaster said the portrait had been cut up with a knife and it needs to be restored.’

Remus frowned at the caretaker but decided to let it go. Filch had been taking care of the paintings of the castle forever, he would figure it out for himself. ‘Sure. We’ll leave you to it, then.’ Filch grumbled something Remus ignored.

Remus turned and started walking towards the staircase to go and find the Fat Lady, Pads trailing behind him. They started on the fourth floor as Peeves had said that was where he had seen the Lady, but she had obviously moved on from there. Remus asked the people in the paintings for direction, and they soon found the Fat Lady in a painting on the second floor, hidden away in an unfrequented corridor.

Remus stopped in front of the painting, and Pads sat down on his hind legs next to him. ‘My dear Lady, I’m sorry to disturb you, but could I maybe ask you a question?’

The Fat Lady hiccupped but came closer to Remus and Pads. She considered them for a moment, but then nodded, sniffing.

‘My colleagues seem to have determined that your portrait had been cut up with a knife, but to me, the lines seem too accurately parallel. Is there any chance your attacker used a curse?’

The Fat Lady started crying once more. Remus waited for her to calm down. ‘He did,’ she got out eventually. ‘He’s awful, with his mad eyes and his mane and rags and tattoos!’

Remus smiled sympathetically, and muttered to himself, ‘I see he still has his wand.’

‘Who has a wand?’ a sharp voice asked Remus. He looked up and came face to face with Minerva. Her hair, which was usually pulled back into a tight bun, was now framing her face in frizzy strands, and she was wearing a tired expression on her face.

‘The Lady just told me her portrait had been cursed, not cut up with a knife.’

Minerva’s eyes widened slightly. ‘You’re saying Sirius Black not only managed to sneak in, but he also stole a wand?’

Remus gave her a contemplating gaze. ‘I never said it was Sirius.’

Minerva rubbed a hand down her face. ‘Remus, your loyalty is admirable, but even you have to admit there’s no other way to explain what happened.’

Remus’ shoulder sagged a bit. The full moon had been just the previous night, it was the anniversary of the death of Lily and James, and Peter had impersonated Sirius. He was tired. ‘Minerva, I’m not in denial, I know it couldn’t have been Sirius.’

Minerva shook her head slightly, a few more greying strands escaping from her bun. ‘Yes, I know your theory, but he just tried to get into Gryffindor Tower.’

‘It wasn’t Sirius,’ Remus declared, looking Minerva in the eye. He was probably being a bit too forceful, but right now, he just wanted to go back to his and Sirius’ room, curl around Pads on their bed, and disappear underneath a huge pile of blankets.

‘Remus, I want to believe that just as much as you do, but you have to admit it doesn’t look good.’ She wrinkled her forehead. ‘Do you know something?’

‘I know a lot of things,’ he tried to dodge the question, but a stern look from his former Head of House made him continue, ‘I’m sure Peter is somewhere here. I have a plan to find him, but it will take a few more weeks.’

‘I know I didn’t know Peter as well as you boys did, but he had never been a good potioneer, or particularly talented in transfiguration. The Lady recognized the attacker as Sirius Black, how can you explain that?’ She crossed her arms and looked the most uncertain Remus had ever seen her.

‘I doubt he used Polyjuice Potion. Even if he had managed to brew it, where would he have found a piece of Sirius? Transfiguration, on the other hand…’ he trailed off, raking a hand through his hair and messing it up. ‘Peter was always much better at human transfiguration than he let on. He lived in the same dorm room as Sirius for seven years, not to mention Sirius’ mugshot has been all over the Daily Prophet for the last three months. It’s not really far-fetched to think he transfigured himself to look like Sirius does in the mugshots.’

‘Remus, it does sound logical if you put it that way, but the evidence doesn’t support it.’

Remus gave her a sad smile. ‘I know. That’s why I will find Peter.’

‘Or Sirius. With Veritaserum, he would also give us the truth.’

Remus shook his head. ‘Do you think the Ministry won’t give a kiss on sight order after tonight? I don’t trust them to wait long enough to ask questions.’

Minerva sighed. Her skin looked slightly grey, as if she hadn’t had a proper sleep in a while, and the light coming from the torches on the walls cast dark shadows on her face, accentuating the circles under her eyes. ‘How can you still trust Sirius beyond doubt?’

‘I trust my own instincts,’ Remus confessed, but refused to elaborate. He lowered his gaze to Pads, who nuzzled Remus’ thigh affectionately. Remus dropped his hand to Pads’ head and scratched his ears.

Minerva gave them a strange look, and Remus could already hear her question in his head, but then she just muttered, low enough that Remus only caught it because of his enhanced senses, ‘I don’t want to know, I won’t have to lie to Albus about it then.’

‘Thank you,’ Remus murmured. ‘We should go. Good night, Minerva.’

‘Good night, Remus.’

Remus and Pads slowly made their way back to their room, Remus’ joints flaring up once again. The door finally closed behind them, and Sirius changed back immediately, just in time to catch Remus before he collapsed to the floor. He gently lowered the werewolf on the bed.

‘Please stop pushing yourself like this,’ Sirius muttered into Remus’ hair.

‘I’m fine,’ Remus insisted, but curled up on the bed nonetheless, clinging to Sirius and pulling him down as well. ‘Let’s sleep.’

‘Sleep, I’ll work on the map.’ He tried to sit up and reach into the bedside drawer, but Remus held on tightly to his arm.

‘Sirius. Sleep.’

‘I want to finish the map as quickly as possible, and then catch Peter. Who knows what he’ll do next time.’ He shuffled until he was face to face with Remus. ‘Who knows if he’ll attack Harry the next time.’

‘I understand that, but please sleep with me now? You can work on the map tomorrow, when you’re well rested, it won’t make a big difference.’ Remus stared at Sirius, trying to convey his need to cuddle Sirius to be able to properly sleep.

Sirius seemed to understand him, as he always did, and sighed. ‘Fine, sleep. But you need to change into your pyjamas first.’

Remus groaned, but let Sirius pull him up from the bed, and changed into the pyjama pants Sirius grabbed from the wardrobe. It was a bit too short, indicating that it belonged to Sirius. When Sirius offered him a shirt, Remus shook his head and collapsed back on the bed.

Sirius shrugged and threw the shirt back into the wardrobe. He flicked his wand to collect every blanket in the room and dumped them on Remus, then got rid of his own clothes and slipped under the blankets in just his boxers.

‘G’night, love,’ Sirius murmured, pressing his lips to Remus’ forehead. Remus hummed and shifted closer to Sirius, who chuckled, and changed into his Animagus form. Remus’ fingers sank into his fur as he drifted off.

The next morning, everyone was talking about the attack on the Fat Lady. Remus tried to shut it out, but his enhanced senses made it rather difficult. Pads seemed to have the same problem and decided to skip Remus’ classes in favour of staying in their room and working on the map. And to avoid Snape, whom he almost attacked at breakfast, after Snape not-so-subtly accused Remus of having helped the attacker.

Remus chatted a bit with Filius and learned from him that they hadn’t found anything when they had searched the castle. The Charms professor then threw himself into a rant about the wards protecting the school that Remus didn’t bother to follow.

He probably should have, he mused a few hours later, when he came back to his room after talking with Rolanda during lunch break. He had asked Flappy to send up a plate for him, and was just sitting down to dig in when Sirius looked up from where he was sprawled out on the bed, the map in front of him, and Remus’ notes and a handful of books scattered around him.

‘I’ve been thinking about what Flitwick said at breakfast,’ he started, and Remus raised an eyebrow in question. ‘You know, about wards. Then I remembered Minnie had said something about blood protection when we had that chat a while ago, and there’s something I don’t understand.’

‘I… don’t really follow. What are you talking about?’

‘Flitwick said how no one unauthorized should have been able to get through the wards without setting off an alarm. I mean, the students and the staff won’t, that’s how they never knew when we sneaked out to Hogsmeade. But that’s not what I found strange. He made a comment about how it’s a pity blood wards are tied to a family, because those are much stronger than the wards protecting Hogwarts.’ He gave Remus a meaningful look.

Remus swallowed the last bite and put his fork and knife down. ‘Sirius, I have no idea what you mean.’

‘I mean that people around here cannot see the difference between blood magic and family magic!’ Sirius explained. ‘Minnie told you Dumbledore sent Harry to Lily’s sister for blood protection, right?’

‘I think so.’ Remus shrugged and gulped down a glass of water. ‘I need to go, I have to set up the room for the first years. We’ll continue this chat after my classes, okay?’ He got up, stopped next to the bed for a moment to glance at the map, squeezed Sirius’ hand, and rushed out of the room to have his classroom ready in time.

By the time Remus was done with his classes, Sirius had become incredibly restless. He only attended Harry’s lesson, partly because he needed a break from the map, and partly to eavesdrop a bit. He then went back to their room and tried to figure out a step that was missing from Remus’ notes, but his mind kept wandering to the topic of the wards.

That was why the first words that left his mouth when Remus entered their room were, ‘I need you to ask Minnie something for me.’

Remus blinked at him. ‘Hello to you too, Pads. Why, I had great lessons, though the Slytherins gave me a bit of trouble just now. How was your afternoon?’

Sirius groaned and rose from the bed, his spine popping as he stretched. ‘Sorry, Moons. I just had an idea and I need Minnie to confirm something.’

Remus pinched the bridge of his nose. ‘Okay, what is it?’

‘Can you ask her why Dumbledore left Harry with Lily’s sister?’

‘I guess. Do you mean right now?’ Sirius nodded and stepped close. His arms sneaked around Remus’ waist, and Remus’ hands automatically came up to rest on Sirius’ shoulders. ‘What is this about, though?’

‘The wards. I’ll explain after Minnie confirmed what I suspect,’ he mumbled into Remus’ neck, who suppressed a shiver. ‘Keep asking her questions until I signal I’ve got what I want.’

‘I really don’t understand why you’re so hung up on this.’

‘As I said, I’ll explain. But I need Minnie to confirm that Dumbledore misinterpreted things.’

Remus leaned back and frowned at Sirius but didn’t comment. He gestured for Sirius to change into his Animagus form, then they set off to find Minerva.

They first checked her classroom, but as the last lesson of the day had ended almost half an hour ago, they found it empty, so they walked up to her office. Remus knocked on the door, and he and Pads entered after Minerva called out a ‘come in’.

‘Hello, Minerva,’ Remus greeted and sat down opposite her. He decided to just go for it and get her taking as he had no idea what Sirius expected out of this. ‘I have a question regarding Harry.’ Minerva raised an eyebrow. ‘Why did Dumbledore leave him with the Dursleys?’

‘They are his last living relatives,’ Minerva pointed out the obvious, seemingly just as lost at the question as Remus was. _Keep her talking_ , Remus reminded himself.

‘But that’s not really true, is it?’ Remus gave her a sad smile. ‘Lily and James wanted Sirius to take him in, yet Dumbledore refused him when he asked.’

‘I don’t know about that,’ Minerva said sharply. ‘And everyone thought Mr Black had been the Secret Keeper.’

Pads was shaking his head and Remus understood that they were off-track here. Sirius had mentioned something about blood protection, maybe that would get a better result. ‘Right. You told me something about blood protection back in September, but it wasn’t the focus of our conversation back then. What did you mean by that?’

Minerva sighed, her expression betraying that it wasn’t a topic she was keen to discuss, not even with Remus. ‘Lily Potter died for his son. Albus thinks her sacrifice created a protective ward that only works if Harry stays with his aunt.’

‘I don’t understand,’ Remus admitted, but Pads’ head perked up. This was clearly what he wanted out of this conversation. Remus raked his brain for everything he knew about blood protection, or any kind of blood magic, and found he hadn’t learned much about it. There was maybe a paragraph on it in one of the DADA books. ‘I thought blood wards only worked with magical blood. Yes, Lily was a witch, but not her sister. It shouldn’t work like that.’

Minerva shrugged helplessly. ‘Albus sounded convinced.’

Remus hid a snort and looked down at Pads, silently asking him whether he had what they had come for. Pads made a small move with his head that meant _Prongs_. Of course, Lily wasn’t the only one to stand up to Voldemort to save her family. ‘Even if he’s right, James also died to protect his family. Didn’t _that_ cast a ward?’

Minerva looked rather out of her depth, and Remus could sympathize with that. ‘Remus, I’m not an expert on these matters. You should ask Filius; he knows everything about wards. Also, I don’t think James had any close relatives left after his parents died.’

‘He had his brother,’ Remus mumbled, then shook his head. ‘You’re right, I should ask Filius.’ Or not, seeing that it was him who got this whole thing into Sirius’ head. Pads nudged him, signalling that they could go, so Remus rose from his seat.

Minerva stopped him as he turned towards the door. ‘How is your plan coming together?’

Remus looked down at her. ‘As I said last night, I’ll need a few more weeks.’

Minerva nodded. ‘Let me know if there’s anything I can do.’

Remus smiled at her and said his goodbyes. Pads barked, as if to thank her for the piece of information Remus still hadn’t spotted. They quickly walked back to their room, and Sirius was back in his human form and pacing before the door had even properly closed.

‘Blood wards don’t fucking work like that, what is Dumbledore thinking? Surely, he knows the kind of protection he means cannot be uphold by Muggles, as it needs a magical bond to sustain itself. And why would he think it’s blood protection? There’s a reason blood magic got banned a long time ago.’

Remus plopped down on their bed. ‘Will you finally share with the class?’

Sirius stopped in his tracks. He went to stand in front of Remus but he was too jittery to sit down. ‘To cast a blood ward, you need to spill someone else’s blood. Hence the name blood magic, and why it’s banned. Not that some people won’t still use it.’ He ran a hand through his hair, dislodging the wand that had been keeping it up in a bun. The wand clattered on the floor but neither of them spared it any attention. ‘What Lily did- What they both did, would be tied to family magic, not blood. I knew the difference when I was like five, Dumbledore should also know after living a century in the Wizarding World.’

‘Okay, I don’t know the difference, so explain?’

‘Sure, sorry, Moons. So, blood magic is tied to the spell. For example, if you spill someone’s blood to cast some blood wards, it would be tied to the wards. Like around Grimmauld Place. The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black,’ he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm, ‘has been using the blood and life of traitors like myself to protect its properties and belongings. If you check the family tapestry, the burnt-out, that is to say, disowned, members start only a few generations back. Before that, they simply got sacrificed.’

Remus looked positively nauseous. ‘What about the other thing?’

‘Family magic is tied to your family, but not in the way apparently everyone believes. It doesn’t recognize you based on blood but based on choice. When you’re born, your parents’ magic automatically recognizes you as it considers giving birth as a magical vow to protect and nurture.’ He let out a hollow laugh. ‘Just like that, magical promises and vows made by you change these bonds. For example, the Black family magic didn’t recognize me after I was disowned, but the Potter family magic did after Effie and Monty adopted me.’

Remus frowned at him. ‘But that was never official, was it?’

‘No, but that’s the nice part. The magic doesn’t care about the Ministry’s stupid laws, only the vows you make through magic. For example, you’re also recognized by both the Potter and the Black family magic, because of our vows.’ He lifted a hand and gently poked the rings hanging in front of Remus chest, hidden underneath his clothes.

Remus also reached up a hand and intertwined their fingers. ‘So, based on that, you’re also recognized by my family magic? I mean, Lupin family magic?’

‘Yup. And I think Harry is, as well, because I’m his godfather, and that is considered to be a rather strong magical bond.’ His lips curled up in a small smile. The excess energy had finally left his body, and he sat down next to Remus.

‘Okay, just to make sure I understand it all, Dumbledore sent Harry to the Dursleys because he thought Lily cast whatever protection on him when she died and because of that Harry would be safe there, but in reality, he isn’t safe at all because Lily’s sister is a Muggle?’ Sirius nodded. ‘And the safest place for Harry would be living with us, right? Because we share so many bonds with him.’

Sirius shot Remus a proud smile. ‘That’s the gist of it, yes.’

‘Merlin and Morgana, I so hate Dumbledore.’ Remus moved around until he was leaning on the cold stone wall and tugged Sirius to sit between his legs, with his back to Remus’ chest. Remus wrapped his arms around him, and Sirius snuggled into the embrace. ‘Also, why don’t people know this? It seems like some powerful fucking magic.’

Sirius chuckled. ‘That’s probably the reason why. The purebloods don’t want anyone else to know. Though I don’t understand why. A family’s own magic needs generations to strengthen, accumulating everything its members do with and through magic.’

‘Is that why so many purebloods would only marry other purebloods?’

‘Exactly. See, you understand it pretty well.’ Sirius shifted around and placed a small kiss on Remus’ chin. ‘Marrying a Muggle-born, or even a half-blood won’t add much to the family magic, marrying another pureblood, on the other hand, does. Too bad most people don’t know any longer what they can do with family magic.’

‘Do you?’ Remus asked amusedly. For all of Sirius’ claims that the Blacks hadn’t taught him anything useful, he proved time and again that he had picked up more than he cared to admit.

Sirius sighed. ‘There were a few books on the topic in the Black library.’

‘Well-’ Remus started, but Sirius cut him off.

‘Yes, I know you want to go to Grimmauld. I promise, once we dealt with the rat, we will. I want to look up family magic, and I haven’t forgotten what you said about Horcruxes.’

Remus squeezed him tightly and muttered, ‘Thank you,’ into Sirius’ hair. ‘I know how much you hate that place.’

‘Well, you’ll be with me, so it can’t be that bad,’ Sirius smirked, but his voice lacked its usual humorous edge. ‘Come on, we should go grab dinner.’

‘Five more minutes,’ Remus mumbled. ‘I’m too comfy.’

Sirius chuckled. ‘Yes, I am comfy too, but also hungry. Don’t be a lazy wolf and get me fed.’

Remus sighed into Sirius’ hair but untangled their limbs and let Sirius transform. ‘Let’s go, then. I wouldn’t want you to starve, after all.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I gotta admit, I don't like that stupid excuse Rowling came up with to send Harry back to an abusive household (because I refuse to believe he ever called it home) every year, and I had to do something about it. Also, how does Rowling's blood protection work if not through magic? Why does it work with Muggles?  
> Anyway, let me know what you think about my take on the blood/family magic thing. Family doesn't end in blood, and it doesn't start there either.  
> Next up: Sirius' birthday!


	17. Chapter Seventeen of Sirius Black’s birthday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry I'm late again, hopefully the chapter makes up for the wait! I think I should warn you that it's not as fluffy as you probably expect, though.
> 
> tw: grieving (they visit Godric's Hollow), nightmare (not detailed)

On Tuesday afternoon, Remus finished his last lesson a bit early. He hurried back to his room to put on his coat and to pick up a rather tired Sirius, and they made their way to the Shrieking Shack. Sirius had spent the whole day (and most of the previous night) working on the map, but Remus could tell he was still stuck. They were close to finishing it, but the part Sirius was trying to get through proved to be tricky as neither of them remembered what spells James had used to get the tracking to work.

At the Shack, Sirius transfigured his features like he had the day they had gone to Diagon Alley. Today, he was wearing his leather jacket with a pair of dark jeans and his boots, though. He also stole a button-down and a navy-blue jumper from Remus, though they both were a size or two too big. He had also considered borrowing a pair of dress pants but he hadn’t wanted to mess up Remus’ pants with a shrinking charm. Well, that, and Remus had told him Prongs would probably come back and hex him if he showed up at Godric’s Hollow wearing dress pants after he had refused to wear them for Lily and James’ wedding.

Remus apparated them to the edge of Godric’s Hollow, and they arrived at the same spot they always had before Lily and James had gone into hiding. They walked up the small street in silence, only stopping in front of the ruins of the Potter cottage. They looked up at the house they had once called a second home for a while before Remus stepped closer and laid a trembling hand on the gate, a sign rising out of the ground in front of them upon his touch.

Remus didn’t look at it, he had been present when it had been placed here. He turned to Sirius instead and watched as he read the sign, his eyes going wide and shining with unshed tears. After he reached the end, Sirius let out a quiet sob and sagged against Remus, burying his face in Remus’ chest. Remus lifted a hand to run his fingers through Sirius’ hair in a soothing motion, his other arm holding Sirius in a tight embrace.

‘Hey, it’s okay,’ Remus whispered, ‘we can go back to Hogwarts if it’s too much.’

Sirius shook his head and took a shaky breath. ‘No… no, I want to…’ He hiccupped, and Remus pressed a kiss into his hair.

‘Are you sure?’ Sirius let out an affirmative noise. ‘Just remember, you can tell me if it becomes too much and you want to leave. We can come back any time.’

‘I know.’ Sirius inhaled deeply and straightened up. He wiped the tears off his face with a hand and gave Remus a watery smile. ‘Thank you.’

Sirius intertwined their fingers and they slowly made their way towards the centre of the village. They ignored the Muggle war memorial turned statue of the Potter family, neither of them feeling ready to see the faces of their dead friends, and walked straight to the graveyard that spread out around the church. Sirius followed Remus, his eyes focusing on the back of Remus’ head as he didn’t want to see any familiar names.

Remus led them deep into the graveyard, then stopped in front of a white marble headstone. He looked around, and as he saw no one in the graveyard, he drew his wand and conjured up a bouquet of lilies and a graveside candle. When he moved his wand to light the candle, Sirius put a hand on Remus’, then stepped closer to the tomb and pulled out a matchbox. He carefully lit a match, held it to the candle, and waited until the small flame strengthened.

‘How long have you had that matchbox?’ Remus asked in a low voice when Sirius joined him in front of the tomb.

‘Fifteen years, maybe a bit less,’ Sirius mumbled, sinking his hands into his jacket pockets. He stood close to Remus and leaned into his side. Remus put his arm around Sirius’ shoulder, using his solid presence to comfort the other as they both had a silent conversation with their dead friends.

*

Sirius’ birthday arrived with much of the same stormy weather they had had for the last several weeks.

Remus woke up to the howling of the wind around six in the morning, which was definitely too early after he had stayed up until almost midnight, grading papers. He wasn’t sure when Sirius had finally gone to sleep as he had still been working on the map when Remus had turned in, so he quickly cast a silencing charm on the windows so the storm wouldn’t wake him up. Not that he was easy to wake up when he was sleeping in his Animagus form, but Remus still wanted to let him rest for a bit longer.

He shifted around until he was leaning against Pads’ torso and summoned one of the books he was currently reading. He debated re-reading the passage from Modeste Mignon Sirius had read aloud the previous evening (Remus had insisted they start reading something together to force Sirius to take breaks from the map so he wouldn’t pull all of his hair out in frustration, and Sirius had come up with the idea to work their way through Balzac’s La Comédie humaine) but then settled on The Picture of Dorian Gray, which he was re-reading for about the fifth time. He had suggested they read it together, but Sirius had said he still hated wasting his time re-reading anything, even if it was a Muggle novel he had enjoyed a lot the first time.

Remus read until some dim light managed to force its way through the clouds. He checked his watch and as it was almost time for breakfast, he called Flappy and asked him to send up a tray of food and a mug of hot chocolate. Once the house-elf brought everything up, he turned to Sirius and nudged him until he opened his eyes and changed back.

‘Morning, birthday boy,’ Remus grinned, summoning the tray of food.

‘Mmm. Breakfast in bed? You’re spoiling me.’ Sirius sat up cross-legged and grabbed a slice of treacle tart.

Remus spelled the kettle full and boiling and made himself a mug of Pai Mu Tan. Sirius gave him a curious look, pointing at the mug of hot chocolate questioningly. ‘Oh, no, that’s for you.’ Remus grabbed the mug that flew to him and got comfortable against the headboard.

‘Oh. I thought you finally decided to abandon your tea in favour of replacing every meal with chocolate,’ Sirius admitted, but took the mug in his hand. Now that he spared it a glance he realized it wasn’t Remus’ mug, but the one with Lupus charmed on it.

‘I really don’t know where you got the idea that I’d only eat chocolate if I could. Anyway, I have two doubles today, I really don’t think starting the day on a sugar high would be wise.’

‘Yet you let me start the day on a sugar high,’ Sirius pointed out, raising his mug. ‘Don’t you think that’s highly irresponsible of you, Professor?’

Remus smirked. ‘I’m off to teach the seventh years in about thirty minutes. By the time the sugar high kicks in, I will have left the danger zone.’

Sirius groaned at him. ‘Aren’t you supposed to be nice to me on my birthday?’

‘I let you start the day on a sugar high, isn’t that nice enough for you?’

Sirius sticked out his tongue in response.

‘And don’t forget I promised you a home-cooked dinner,’ Remus reminded, biting into a sandwich. ‘I think that should be nice enough.’

Sirius’ eyes lit up. ‘Is that when you’ll give me my present?’

‘What makes you think I got you a present?’ Remus asked with a raised eyebrow. ‘And when exactly do you think I managed to get away for long enough to buy it, not to mention where would I have hidden it from you? In my opinion, a home-cooked dinner counts as a present.’

‘No, it doesn’t, that’s just the added bonus. You managed just fine when we were sharing a dorm room and then a flat. And need I remind you there was a war going on?’

Remus just rolled his eyes and refused to encourage Sirius.

Remus’ indifference didn’t stop Sirius from pestering him about his gifts, though. If anything, he just came on stronger the more Remus ignored his questions. Remus thought Sirius would stop once he had transformed into his Animagus form, but he managed to keep pestering him with a simple look that shouldn’t have worked at all.

It didn’t help that Remus’ last class was not only a double, but also contained the Weasley twins, who enchanted everyone’s quills to loudly say every word they wrote. Sirius laughed his head off, or as much as he could as a dog, but most of the students seemed to find it annoying. Remus agreed with them, especially because he had a fair idea of what combination of charms the twins had used and knew breaking the spell would take far too long.

Remus lasted fifteen minutes before he gave up and summoned some of the cursed objects Ginny and Harry had practiced on and told the class they’d have a practical lesson instead. Everyone seemed to like that, though Remus caught the twins’ disappointed look. Still, they looked rather pleased with themselves when Remus asked them to stay behind after class.

‘Boys,’ Remus started when they were the only ones left in the room, ‘I appreciate your pranks, I do, but next time you do anything this loud that requires layered countercharms and about half an hour to break, I will give you detention. Supervised by Mr Filch.’

The twins shared a disbelieving look but didn’t complain, which made Remus smile.

‘Now, I’m rather impressed how you combined those charms, though maybe you could figure out how to use this spell for acquiring information.’ He gave them a thoughtful look. ‘I’m sure it would be possible that only the person casting the spell hears what is being written.’

The twins grinned widely and, after promising to refrain from such loud spells in the future, left the classroom to probably squeeze in some plotting before dinner.

Remus and Pads walked back to their room to change and grab their coats. Or Remus’ coat and Sirius’ leather jacket, to be precise. Remus also packed a bottle of hot chocolate he had gotten from the house-elves and a few of their blankets, stuffing them all in his coat pocket.

This time, Sirius didn’t transfigure his features as they Apparated directly to the cottage. He grumbled about their choice of transportation, though, for good measure. ‘Come on, Moony, it’s my birthday. You know I hate Apparating. I want my bike back.’

‘Sirius, flying all the way would take hours, and we’d probably freeze to death as not even magic can fight this weather. And the cottage is still not hooked to the Floo Network. Which is monitored by the Ministry, and you’re a fugitive.’

Sirius groaned but let Remus Apparate them to Wales. They quickly entered the cottage as the rain, which had finally let up at Hogwarts, was still in full swing and they got drenched on the short path leading from the gate to the front door. Once inside, Sirius shook his hair like a dog, splattering water everywhere.

‘Will you stop?’ Remus asked exasperatedly as he drew his wand and cast a couple drying and warming charms on them. He flicked on the light and sent out a few heating charms all over the cottage to make the temperature bearable.

Remus loaded the contents of his coat pockets on a couch, then they both took off their coats and shoes, the floor being plenty warm thanks to Remus’ spells. They walked into the kitchen, Remus levitating the bottle of hot chocolate to the counter. Sirius plopped down on one of the chairs at the small table and watched Remus check the cupboards and the fridge.

‘Okay, I’ll bite,’ Sirius said after a few moments, ‘shouldn’t we go shopping for ingredients?’

‘Nah, I asked Floppy earlier to deliver everything we would need for tonight’s dinner.’

‘Which is?’ Sirius inquired, tilting his head to the side.

‘You’ll see once it’s done,’ Remus smirked, and Sirius rolled his eyes.

‘If you think I’ll sit back and let you do all the cooking, you’re an idiot, Moonpie.’

Remus glanced over at Sirius, setting the bowl and knife down on the counter and opening a drawer to pull out a cutting board. ‘I thought you were the birthday boy,’ he said absentmindedly, and took the meat out of the fridge.

‘If you’re cooking the Muggle way, I want to help. Merlin knows I’m shit with cooking spells, but I can still cut chicken and vegetables with a knife.’ He stood up and stepped next to Remus, peering into the fridge, and tried to figure out what they were preparing based on the ingredients gathered there. ‘Also, being the birthday boy means you have to let me help if that’s what I want.’ He grinned at Remus and wrapped his arms around the other’s waist. ‘That way you cannot claim dinner is my birthday present.’

Remus stifled a sigh. ‘That reminds me, there’s something I want to show you before we get elbow-deep in raw chicken. We need to go back out into that storm, though.’

‘Don’t care.’ Sirius’ grin widened and he shifted into his Animagus form. He waited impatiently at the door as Remus put his shoes and coat back on and casted several repelling and heating charms on both of them, then followed Remus out to a shack behind the cottage.

Sirius transformed back as Remus turned on the light, then promptly fainted against Remus. Or pretended to. Remus just chuckled at his antics.

‘You like it, I take?’ he prompted with a smug smile.

‘How in Godric’s name did you get it back?’ Sirius stepped closer to his old bike and ran an admiring hand over it, possibly checking for injuries.

‘I told Hagrid you would probably want it back, and, seeing that you had already broken into Hogwarts once, it’d be safer if he let me hide it somewhere you wouldn’t look.’

‘I can’t believe you implied to Hagrid that I attacked the Fat Lady.’ Sirius stared accusingly at Remus, who was leaning on the doorframe and still smiling down at him.

‘I didn’t, I just told him it’d be wise to move the bike from his hut and he filled in the rest.’

‘Same difference.’ He patted his bike once more, then straightened up. ‘I told you you would get me something for my birthday,’ he sing-songed, trapping Remus against the wall with his arms. Remus raised an eyebrow at him.

‘I wouldn’t call getting back a bike that belonged to you in the first place a birthday present.’

Sirius shrugged. ‘I still love you.’

Remus grinned down at him. ‘I know.’

‘You realize that’s not the proper answer to that, right?’ He shook his head. ‘Anyway, do you know what this means?’ He nodded at the bike.

‘We are not taking it back to Hogwarts. I don’t think anyone’s flown it in over a decade and I don’t want it to fall apart underneath us as we’re up in the air.’

Sirius groaned but didn’t argue. ‘Fine, I’ll examine it properly after the rat’s been dealt with.’

Remus beamed at him, and they quickly made their way back to the cottage. The rain quieted down to a drizzle, but a fog started forming, and they were incredibly thankful for magic as they stepped into the warm kitchen.

Sirius insisted they put on an apron (after he charmed one to say ‘Wherewolf?’ and the other ‘Herewolf’), then twisted his hair up and used his wand to keep the bun in place. Remus put on the potatoes to cook and started cutting up the chicken while instructing Sirius to make a marinade. He hadn’t planned anything fancy because he didn’t want to spend most of the evening preparing the food, though he did have a bottle of wine and some Firewhisky and a small chocolate cake made by the Hogwarts house-elves stashed away.

Once the chicken was soaking in the marinade and the vegetables were oven-ready, they sat the table, bickering back and forth, laughing quietly as they kept bumping into each other. For a moment, it was as if they had gone back in time a good decade; the only things betraying the truth were Sirius’ still too sharp cheekbones and lack of a beard (his malnourishment at Azkaban seemed to have killed his ability to grow any facial hair) and Remus’ already greying hair, even if it wasn’t obvious on a first glance.

‘Okay, you’re going to accuse me of being sentimental, but I want us to wear our wedding bands properly tonight,’ Sirius said after he placed the knives and forks on the wrong side of the plates. Or wrong side for most people. Sirius, being left-handed, preferred it that way, and Remus never really cared as he could handle most utensils with either hand.

‘I’m not sure they count as wedding bands as we didn’t have a Ministry-approved wedding,’ Remus argued, but took off the chain and gave Sirius his titanium ring. He put his own recently repaired one on his ring finger and turned to switch on the oven.

‘I don’t give a fuck about the Ministry. The old way is better anyway, as it doesn’t discriminate against same-sex couples, or werewolves, for that matter.’ Sirius admired the way the ring glinted on his finger, then grabbed Remus’ hand to examine his. ‘Alright, boss, what’s the next step?’

‘We wait until the oven heats up.’ He checked his watch. ‘The potatoes need about fifteen more minutes, then we can peal and mash them, and add the butter and the milk. Go settle on the couch, I’ll cast a quick cleaning charm. Do you want some Firewhisky?’

Sirius walked to the couch, lay down on it, and covered himself with the blankets. ‘I should probably start with something not as strong as Ogden’s,’ he mused, making Remus laugh.

‘I didn’t think I’d ever hear you say no to Firewhisky,’ he deadpanned.

Sirius grunted noncommittally in response. The warmth that Remus’ charms and the blankets he had piled on himself granted made him drowsy, and the fact that he hadn’t slept much since Peter’s attack didn’t help him stay awake either. Before he knew, he drifted off.

Remus soon noticed Sirius had fallen quiet and walked over to the couch to check on him. He smiled that way Lily had always called his besotted smile as he saw Sirius sprawled out on the couch. Remus set Sirius wand, which had somehow fallen to the floor, on the table. He brushed Sirius’ hair out of his face and pressed a small kiss to his forehead, then walked back to the kitchen to load the chicken and the vegetables on an oven tray, cover it with aluminium foil, and put it into the now-heated oven. He set a timer for twenty minutes and started on the mashed potatoes.

Remus was humming to himself as he pulled the tray out of the oven twenty-some minutes later to take the aluminium foil off and put it back to grill a bit. Sirius was still sleeping soundly on the couch, and Remus didn’t want to wake him up after he had spent the last two days working on the map, not getting barely any sleep.

Remus turned to finish setting the table and he was just transfiguring two water glasses into wine glasses when he heard a small whimper coming from the direction of the couch. He put the glasses down and walked into the living room.

Sirius was now curled up on the couch, still whimpering, and shaking violently. Remus crouched down, reached out a hand and brushed Sirius’ sweaty hair out of his face, trying to wake him up gently. ‘Sirius, love, it’s just a dream,’ he whispered as he nudged Sirius’ shoulder. He frowned as this was the first time Sirius had a nightmare since they had reunited, but then again, this was also the first time he had fallen asleep in his human form.

Sirius came to with a gasp, and Remus immediately pulled him into a tight embrace, talking to him in a low voice he could focus on. ‘It’s okay, you’re okay, it was just a dream. You’re here with me, in Wales, in our cottage. Today is your thirty fourth birthday, dinner is almost ready, we made chicken with mashed potatoes the Muggle way,’ Remus rambled. He doubted Sirius really heard the words he was saying, but they had discovered a long time ago that it was the easiest way to calm Sirius after a nightmare.

As Remus hoped, it didn’t take long for Sirius to return the embrace and wrap his arms around Remus’ torso, then for his breathing to even out. They shuffled around until Remus was sitting on the couch with Sirius on his lap, his face buried in Remus’ neck. Remus kept stroking Sirius’ hair and pressing soft kisses to Sirius’ forehead and temple.

‘’m sorry,’ Sirius eventually mumbled.

Remus frowned. ‘What for?’

Sirius nuzzled Remus’ neck and sighed. ‘This was supposed to be our first date in I don’t know how long, and now I went and rui-’

‘Don’t even finish that sentence,’ Remus interrupted, squeezing Sirius tighter. ‘You didn’t ruin anything. The chicken should be done soon, and then we’ll cuddle and eat. I have some hot chocolate, too, if you wanted that instead of the wine.’

‘So now hot chocolate is our go-to comfort food?’ Sirius asked amusedly.

‘I think it’s been our comfort food since third year,’ Remus chuckled. ‘Or maybe second.’

‘Yeah, you’re probably right.’ Sirius lifted his head and leaned back a bit. ‘But we should eat at the table.’ Remus raised an eyebrow in question. ‘I mean, isn’t that what you’re supposed to do? That’s how a proper date goes,’ he mumbled.

Remus sighed and shook his head. ‘Who cares about what you’re supposed to do? Any date is a proper date as long as we both enjoy it, and frankly, I’d rather stay here and cuddle than move to the table.’ He lifted his right hand to cup Sirius’ face and brushed Sirius’ cheek with his thumb. ‘What we should do is what makes us both comfortable.’

Sirius turned his head slightly, until he could place a small kiss on Remus’ palm, then sagged against Remus, hiding his face in the crook of Remus’ neck once again. ‘I love you.’

‘And I love you.’

They sat there quietly until the timer went off and Remus had to get up to check the chicken. It seemed well-cooked, so he took out the tray and set it down on the stove. He served a portion for both of them, and carried the plates back to the couch, handing one to Sirius. He summoned the utensils, the glasses (which he promptly turned into mugs), and the bottle of hot chocolate. He reheated it with a wandless spell and poured them both a mug.

He settled back down on the couch, cuddling up to Sirius and tucking the blankets around them tightly. They chatted as they ate, elbows bumping every now and then. Sirius ended up taking a second helping, and even wanted a third, but then Remus let it slip that there was cake and Sirius became an overexcited puppy.

Remus summoned the cake and cleaned the plates with a spell. He cut the cake up and served them both a piece.

‘Mm. Hot chocolate and chocolate cake. Are you trying to fatten me up so you can eat me like in that Muggle horror fairy tale?’ Sirius asked mock-horrified.

‘Ha-ha. I’m not an evil witch, am I?’

‘No, you’re a cuddlewolf,’ Sirius stated with a shit-eating grin.

‘That doesn’t even rhyme with werewolf.’

‘Maybe, but you’re still a cuddlewolf. Even on a full, which is really nice.’ Remus rolled his eyes at that but didn’t argue. ‘Wait, you said getting me back my bike wasn’t a birthday present, so what _did_ you get me?’

Remus sighed. ‘Aren’t you a bit too greedy?’ At Sirius’ pout he added, ‘Eat your cake.’

Sirius perked up and shovelled the cake into his mouth, almost choking on it in his haste. Remus mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like ‘child’ and made a point of taking his time with the cake. Which was delicious and deserved to be properly enjoyed.

‘Reemuus,’ Sirius whined when he saw Remus was only on the second, rather small bite. Remus grinned at him but waved his wand and summoned an envelope. He handed it to Sirius, who watched him suspiciously. ‘What is this?’

‘You know, for all you’ve been talking about me getting you a birthday present, you’re pretty bad at recognizing it once you’re presented with it,’ Remus chuckled, summoning a large bag. ‘Nope, envelope first,’ he said, batting away Sirius’ hand.

‘For the record, I so knew you would get me something,’ Sirius muttered, tearing open the envelope and shaking it until the paper in it fell out. He picked it up, read it, read it again, then threw himself at Remus, who must have foreseen it as he had already put his plate down on the table. ‘You’re crazy, but you’re my crazy.’

‘Good present, then?’ Remus mumbled, hiding his smirk in Sirius’ hair.

‘Good present? Really? You got me a share in the future Weasley joke shop, basically making me a founding member.’ He giggled into Remus’ chest. ‘Merlin and Morgana, I’ll never top this present.’

‘You haven’t even checked the rest,’ Remus remarked, handing the bag to Sirius. ‘Though be careful, I have no idea what half of them does.’

Sirius frowned slightly and dumped the contents of the bag on the floor. He picked up a candy and examined it closely, though didn’t try it after Remus’ warning.

‘They are samples of Fred and George’s inventions,’ Remus explained, seeing Sirius’ confusion. ‘That one will make your nose bleed. Fred and George use it to get out of History of Magic,’ he said, pointing at the candy in Sirius’ hand. ‘There should be a list of them with descriptions of how they were made and what they do.’

Sirius’ grin softened to a smile. He grabbed Remus’ wand and spelled the products back into the bag, setting it aside. ‘I’ll go through that list later, then. Maybe there’s something in there that we can use to catch the rat.’ He gave Remus back his cake and got himself another piece.

‘You’re going to be sick if you keep eating,’ Remus warned.

Sirius shrugged. ‘Would be worth it. Are we staying the night, by the way?’

Remus raised an eyebrow in question. ‘Do you want to?’

Sirius considered this for a few moments, or maybe he had just taken a too large bite of his cake that he couldn’t speak through. ‘I think I don’t want to go back out into that weather and Apparate after eating all this food. And I don’t really want to get up from here, it’s comfy and warm.’ He tossed his plate on the table and flopped down on his back, his legs dangling off the couch, laid his head on Remus’ lap, and stared up at him.

‘Will you be willing to go upstairs to the bedroom, or should I just expand the couch?’

‘Couch,’ Sirius voted, taking Remus’ now empty plate from him and placing it on the table while Remus used Sirius’ wand to enlarge the couch so they could comfortably lie down.

They settled with Sirius lying on top of Remus, one of Remus’ hands tangled in Sirius’ hair, and the other holding Sirius’. Sirius draped the blankets over their legs and nuzzled into Remus. ‘Read to me?’ he mumbled, and felt Remus chuckle.

‘What?’ Remus shifted until he was propped up against the armrest of the couch.

‘I said, read to me,’ Sirius repeated, looking up at Remus with his best puppy eyes.

‘Alright, alright,’ Remus laughed, ‘what should I read?’

‘Do you still have Le Petit Prince?’

Remus sighed, but he probably should have expected this. ‘English, French, or German?’

Sirius shot him a shit-eating grin. ‘French.’

‘You just want to hear me butcher the pronunciation,’ Remus accused, but summoned the book nonetheless. ‘And I thought you didn’t re-read books.’

‘I’m not the one reading it,’ Sirius pointed out. ‘I have no qualms about _listening_ to books more than once, and you have a cute accent in French.’

Remus rolled his eyes. ‘So that’s why you didn’t want to listen to Dorian Gray.’

‘I didn’t want to listen to it because it’s long, not because it was written in English. This, on the other hand, is not even a hundred pages, and it even has pictures.’

‘If you say so.’ Remus nudged Sirius until he found a position where they could both see the book. ‘Should I wake you up if you fall asleep without transforming again?’

Sirius shook his head. ‘No. I’ve had one nightmare already, I think I can get away with sleeping as a human for once. Do wake me if I have another nightmare, though,’ he added.

‘Of course.’ Remus pressed a quick kiss into Sirius’ hair, then turned to the first page of the book and started, ‘Lorsque j’avais six ans…’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a headcanon that Sirius' parents made him learn like a dozen languages when he was a kid, and then he sort-of taught Remus one or two so they could chat without anyone understanding them. Then Remus kept learning while Sirius was locked up. Oh, and Remus always switches to Welsh when he cusses.


End file.
